Trump administration officials said Sunday there will be no more conditions imposed on North Korea before a first-ever meeting of the two nation’s leaders beyond the North’s promise not to resume nuclear testing and missile flights or publicly criticize U.S.-South Korean military exercises.
The officials’ comments followed the surprise announcement last week that President Donald Trump has agreed to meet the North’s Kim Jong Un by May.
“This potential meeting has been agreed to, there are no additional conditions being stipulated, but, again they — they cannot engage in missile testing, they cannot engage in nuclear testing and they can’t publicly object to the U.S.-South Korea planned military exercises,” deputy White House spokesman Raj Shah said.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the summit would give Trump a chance “to sit down and see if he can cut a deal” with Kim over the North’s nuclear program. “The president has been very clear in what the objective is here. And that is to get rid of nuclear weapons on the (Korean) peninsula,” Mnuchin said.
The administration officials credited toughened economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations, and pushed by the United States, with helping bring Kim to the brink of negotiations.
“Our policy is pressure, is pressure from our partners and allies around the world, pressure to the United Nations, pressure through China, these have had an impact. It’s impacted Kim Jong Un’s behavior. It’s impacted his conduct,” Shah said.
But some members of Congress said they worry that Trump acted impulsively in agreeing to meet with Kim, before negotiators for both countries had a chance to set some goals the leaders could agree to.
“But the important thing is the diplomatic work that has to go in before such a meeting. A meeting like that would be kind of an afterthought after things are negotiated. Here it looks as if, you know, that’s kind of the opening gambit. And that’s a little worrisome,” said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a frequent Trump critic.
The U.S. and South Korea hold military maneuvers every year. They were postponed during the recent Winter Olympics in South Korea. They are expected to be held in April, but no official announcement has been made about when they will take place. In an interview en route to the Middle East, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis declined to discuss the timing and scale of the exercises.
Mattis wouldn’t talk at all about the diplomatic push over North Korea’s nuclear program. “When you get in a position like this, the potential for misunderstanding remains very high,” he said.
Mattis was among the advisers in the White House on Thursday when Trump decided to accept Kim’s offer to meet. The offer was relayed to Trump by a South Korean government delegation that briefed the president on their meeting with Kim last week in North Korea’s capital.
Trump said Saturday that he believes North Korea will abide by its pledge to suspend missile tests while he prepares for the summit. He noted in a tweet that North Korea has refrained from such tests since November and said Kim “has promised not to do so through our meetings.”
“I believe they will honor that commitment,” the president said.
Later, at a political rally in Pennsylvania, when Trump mentioned Kim’s name, the crowd booed. But Trump responded: “No, it’s very positive … no, after the meeting you may do that, but now we have to be very nice because let’s see what happens, let’s see what happens.”
Flake and Mnuchin spoke on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Shah was on ABC’s “This Week.”
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Sherman reported from Washington and Burns from Muscat, Oman.
That only applies to the mere mortals who have previously occupied the White House. The current resident has made it clear that “I’m the only one that matters, because when it comes to it, that’s what the policy is going to be. You’ve seen that, you’ve seen it strongly.”
So the president (sic) who has a depleted State Department, no ambassador to South Korea, no ambassador to North Korea, no experience in foreign policy, and no sense of diplomacy is going “to sit down and see if he can cut a deal” with Kim over the North’s nuclear program. Despite these impediments I am encouraged by the unrivaled success of his 30 day plan to defeat ISIS and his beautiful healthcare plan. Of course there is also the remote possibility that the talks with Kim will give DT the opportunity to break his own speed records for backtracking and blaming others.
As predicted, Trump is trying to define down the acceptable standard for agreeing to meet with Kim. He cannot pass up the PR opportunity in the run up to the Kim meeting and the response from Congress has been pretty weak and muted thus far. This is a major national security issue that Trump is screwing up.
This idea of a Trump-Kim meeting was likely planted by Vladimir Putin, as he trolled all of us when he offered to host the meeting. I believe Vladimir has been the hidden hand behind NK’s rapid development of its nukes and testing capability over the past year, and I also believe he is the hidden hand behind this meeting. SK is doing what they have to do to protect their people so any shiny object they can put in front of Trump to keep him from blowing the place up is fine by them.
Trump is throwing away US leverage, breaking the US Pacific alliance, and legitimizing Kim. This is Manchurian candidate level stuff. This is the type of thing that Tillerson, Kelly and others should resign over.
Apparently there is no formal written invitation from Kim yet, just the word brought by the ROK National Security Adviser. So Kim can still say: “What are you guys talking about?”.
So…what are the chances that Trump has had any conversations with anyone regarding the history of US relations with NK, and the fact that there is danger that lurks in a US president elevating NK to a level of legitimacy and credibility - and victory - that it likely does not deserve?
Does Trump know what “denuclearization” means? Because Trump appears to think it means that Korea stands down from its nuclear program, and we stand pat - and I’m willing to bet that that’s not what Kim is going for.
I am hoping that the meeting never happens because Mueller finally delivers Trump to the gates of hell and kindly opens the door for him. And throws away the key.
“This potential meeting has been agreed to, there are no additional conditions being stipulated, but, again they — they cannot engage in missile testing [don’t need it, already good], they cannot engage in nuclear testing [don’t need any more, we’re cool] and they can’t publicly object to the U.S.-South Korea planned military exercises [who cares],” deputy White House spokesman Raj Shah said.
Yes, Donald…you’re a tough boy, you’re a rough boy, you’re a winner. You are the absolute best president in the history of the country. Just don’t get millions of people killed.