U.S.: No favors for N. Korea talks
White House leaves open chance that talks won’t happen.
Trump administration offifficials said Sunday that the United States had made no concessions to the North Korean regime in exchange for what would be a historic meeting between President
Donald Trump and the reclusive nation’s leader, Kim Jong Un.
But the White House also left open the possibility that the talks, which South Korean officials have said would happen by the end of May, could ultimately not happen — particularly if the North Koreans conduct nuclear or missile tests in coming weeks.
“There’s the possibility,” White House principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah said on ABC News’s “This Week” of the prospects of the talks falling through. “If it does, it’s the North Koreans’ fault. They have not lived up to the promises that they made.”
The conditions that Trump has set, according to administration offifficials, is that Kim would halt any nuclear or missile testing until the talks occur and allow joint military exercises between the South Korea and the United States to proceed. The regime has also committed to saying “complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization” is on the table, CIA Director Mike Pompeo said Sunday.
“These are real achievements. These are conditions that the North Korean regime has never submitted to in exchange for conversations,” Pompeo said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Never before have we had the North Korean in a position where their economy was at such risk and where their leadership was
under such pressure that they would begin conversations on the terms that Kim Jong Un has conceded to.”
He said the administration had given Kim “nothing” in exchange for Trump agreeing to meet with him and added: “While these negotiations are going on, there will be no concessions made.”
Pompeo, who has secured a bond with Trump in part by reliably praising him in public, implied that Trump’s often personal attacks on Kim were among those pressure points, saying on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that U.S. intelligence offifficials had briefed Trump on how Kim “might react and how North Korea might respond.”
But it is hard to differentiate the way Trump has treated Kim on Twitter — referring to him deri- sively as “Little Rocket Man,” for example — from the way he mocks most adversaries, including the press and political opponents.
The White House stunned Washington with its surprise announcement Thursday that the administration had accepted overtures from Kim to meet directly with Trump — a statement that Trump himself teased with an impromptu visit to the briefing room. No sitting U.S. president has met directly with the leader of North Korea, which wants to be legitimized on the world stage.
No specific date or location has been announced for the Trump-Kim discussions, and administration offifficials downplayed the sig-nificance of where the talks would be held.
“President Trump isn’t doing this for theater. He’s going to solve a problem,” Pompeo said. “What’s most important is what’ s discussed and the clarity and
the strength and resolve of this president and this administration to achieve the outcome that Americans so desperately deserve.”