Trump ready to ‘get in room’ with Kim Jong Un
Kim Jong Un.
Trump sees an opportunity for the kind of headline-making agreement that would put his name in the history books. Jonathan Swan of Axios reported last weekend that a source who discussed North Korea with Trump said he thinks, “Just get me in the room with the guy, and I’ll figure it out.”
Analysts repeatedly told us during the era of U.S.-Soviet arms negotiations that “the devil is in the details,” and that may be even more true in dealing with the North Koreans. After all, they have a history of dangling the prospect of far more concessions than they ultimately accept.
Trump, however, suggested he has already achieved something. “Wow,” he tweeted recently. “We haven’t given up anything & they have agreed to denuclearization (so great for World), site closure, & no more testing!” Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said North Korea had expressed “a will” for complete denuclearization in talks with South Korea, something of an overstatement at a time that goal still seems remote.
The good news is that, despite such unrealistic statements and Trump’s bizarre depiction of the North Korean despot as “very honorable,” top officials are making appropriately careful preparations for the proposed meeting, evidenced by the trip to North Korea by CIA director and Secretary of State-nominee Mike Pompeo.
In his public comments, Trump has alternated assertions of a likely agreement with Kim with warnings of what might happen without an accord. “If we don’t think it’s going to be successful we won’t have it,” Trump warned at a Florida news conference in April with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who fears any agreement that would remove or reduce the U.S. nuclear presence that has protected Japan as well as South Korea. Trump also said, “If the meeting when I’m there isn’t fruitful, I will respectfully leave the meeting.”
But the most likely outcome is something in between, perhaps an agreement to keep discussing a freeze on North Korean nuclear development. And the real question may be what Trump will do long-term if it becomes evident Kim won’t give up the nuclear capacity that has been his ticket to being taken seriously by the United States.
Trump has repeatedly vowed to use military action if necessary to ensure denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. His new national-security adviser, John Bolton, has called for a preemptive U.S. strike to destroy North Korea’s nuclear capacity, even if it provokes a North Korean counter-attack on South Korea that inflames the entire Korean peninsula.
By agreeing to meet Kim, Trump has shown his confidence in his reputed dealmaking capacity. But he acknowledged “only time will tell” if a deal is reachable. And no one can know how far he would go to get one — or what he’ll do if he fails.