All eyes on Singapore
After fractious time at G-7, he predicts ‘wonderful result’ with North Korea
President Trump, Kim Jong Un arrive in Asia for historic nuclear summit.
SINGAPORE – A day after arguing with Western allies at the G-7 summit over trade, President Trump landed in Asia on Sunday prepared to declare victory in talks with nuclear-armed North Korea.
“We have a chance to achieve a truly wonderful result for North Korea and the World,” Trump tweeted en route to the historic trading post of Singapore, predicting that counterpart Kim Jong Un “will work very hard to do something that has rarely been done before ... Create peace and great prosperity for his land.”
Trump, who wants North Korea to give up its nuclear program in exchange for a reduction in economic sanctions, presented the summit as a “one-time opportunity” that should not be wasted.
As he disembarked from Air Force One, Trump said he felt “very good” about his prospects.
Kim landed in Singapore hours earlier, staying silent as he has since Trump rescheduled the canceled meeting set for Tuesday morning local time (Monday night in the USA).
Kim is unlikely to commit to what some Trump administration officials call “CVID” — complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of nuclear weapons programs — not at this meeting and perhaps not ever.
Trump described this initial meeting as the start of a process.
Some analysts said a Kim commitment to specific negotiations on denuclearization could be enough for Tuesday’s summit to be a success.
Olivia Enos, policy analyst with the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, said “a successful summit would move beyond mere statements about denucleariza- tion.” It “would instead lay out practical steps with requisite commitments from North Korea that demonstrate that it understands, accepts and is committed to achieving denuclearization as the U.S. defines it.” Enos is in Singapore to watch the proceedings.
Preliminary meetings have begun. Shortly after arriving, Kim visited with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is scheduled to meet with Trump on Monday.
Trump and Kim touched down on a sweltering early summer day in Singapore, the city-state founded in the early 19th century as a British colony because of its position at the intersection of sea lanes between Europe and Asia.
Singapore’s government offered a neutral site for the first meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.
Security is tight before the summit between two unpredictable men who have threatened each other over North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
The American president traveled to Singapore from Canada, where the tensions of the G-7 summit centered largely on disputes over trade. Canada and Germany protested Trump-backed tariffs on their exports and threatened to retaliate with tariffs on U.S. products.
Trump accused the summit host, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, of lying and threatened to end trade with G-7 nations that he said use unfair practices. The president refused to sign a joint statement pledging cooperation.
Trump now brings his “America first” negotiating style to the confrontation over North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
Technically, North Korea remains in a state of war with South Korea, an ally of the United States. The Korean War of the early 1950s ended with a cease-fire, not a treaty. Forging a peace treaty involving South Korea may be another topic of the Trump-Kim meeting.
“A successful summit would ... lay out practical steps with requisite commitments from North Korea that demonstrate that it understands, accepts and is committed to achieving denuclearization as the U.S. defines it.”
Olivia Enos Heritage Foundation