May 25, 2018
Trump Leaves the Door Open for Another North Korea Summit
The Trump administration’s announcement that they will postpone the Singapore summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signaled that they are committed to a good deal for the United States, or no deal at all. Trump’s letter to Kim made it clear that he was disappointed by North Korea’s recent actions and words—including Pyongyang’s earlier promise to allow experts to gather forensic evidence at today’s demolition of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.
Driving President Trump to the brink were recent comments from North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, a long-time U.S. interlocutor who claimed that, “Whether the U.S. will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States.” Her statement also cited Vice President Pence and National Security Advisor Bolton’s recent comments on the Libya model as drivers for North Korea’s recent uptick in sharp rhetoric.
However, critics mistake symptoms for underlying causes when they blame Ambassador Bolton or Vice President Pence for their references to the “Libya model” of denuclearization. Secretary Pompeo’s testimony that the North Koreans were unwilling to engage in serious preparations reinforces the argument that the North Koreans themselves were not yet ready to discuss the future of their nuclear program.
Read the Full Article at The National Interest
More from CNAS
-
Next UN Afghanistan Talks in Doha Must Hold Taliban to Account on Human Rights
The United Nations is preparing to host its third meeting of international envoys to Afghanistan in Doha later this month. This is a promising initiative aimed at developing a...
By Lisa Curtis
-
Obama tried to pivot to Asia in 2011. We must succeed this time.
This article, originally published in The Washington Post, is an excerpt from Lost Decade: The US Pivot to Asia and the Rise of Chinese Power. In 2011, President Barack Obama ...
By Richard Fontaine & Robert Blackwill
-
How The U.S. Failed To Meet the China Challenge
It’s a rare subject of bipartisan agreement that China is the greatest strategic challenge facing the U.S., perhaps the greatest it has ever faced. And yet, despite a decade o...
By Richard Fontaine & Robert Blackwill
-
Addressing a Human Rights and Looming Terrorism Crisis in Afghanistan
Executive Summary Pursuing the same harsh policies as it did during its previous stint in power in the 1990s, the Taliban has increasingly clamped down on the rights of women...
By Lisa Curtis & Annie Pforzheimer