Trump-Kim Summit In Play As Moon Visits White House

Donald Trump welcomes South Korea's president to the White House Tuesday, a high stakes and potentially testy meeting that could decide whether the US leader's much-v Donald Trump welcomes South Korea's president to the White House Tuesday, a high stakes and potentially testy meeting that could decide whether the US leader's much-vaunted summit with Kim Jong Un goes ahead

Washington, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd May, 2018 ) :Donald Trump welcomes South Korea's president to the White House Tuesday, a high stakes and potentially testy meeting that could decide whether the US leader's much-v Donald Trump welcomes South Korea's president to the White House Tuesday, a high stakes and potentially testy meeting that could decide whether the US leader's much-vaunted summit with Kim Jong Un goes ahead.

Moon Jae-in is scheduled to arrive at the White House at 12:00 (1600 GMT) on a mission to salvage a rare diplomatic opening between the US and North Korea that is in trouble almost before it begins.

Trump had agreed to meet inscrutable "Supreme Leader" Kim in Singapore on June 12, but the first-ever US-North Korea summit is now in serious doubt, with both sides expressing reservations. "I would still contend that this time is different," South Korean ambassador Cho Yoon Je wrote in the Washington Post on the eve of his president's visit.

"We must still give hope a chance, even though there are miles to go and the road will be bumpy." South Korea -- worried about Kim's bellicose weapons testing and Trump's similarly bellicose warnings about "fire and fury" -- was instrumental in convincing the two Cold War foes to sit down and talk.

Moon sent his own national security advisor to the White House in March, carrying an offer of talks and word that North Korea may be willing to abandon nuclear weapons, an enticing prospect. Trump surprised his guests, his own aides and the world by summarily accepting the meeting, seeing an opportunity to "do a deal" and avoid military confrontation.

Pyongyang is on the verge of marrying nuclear and missile technology allowing it to hit the continental United States with a nuke, a capability Washington sees as wholly unacceptable. Since then, there has been a landmark series of intra-Korean meetings, two trips to Pyongyang by Mike Pompeo -- first as CIA director then as America's top diplomat -- and three American citizens have been released from the North.

But after several Trumpian victory laps, North Korea's willingness to denuclearize is now in serious doubt. Earlier this month, North Korea denounced US demands for "unilateral nuclear abandonment" and canceled at the last minute a high-level meeting with the South in protest over joint military drills between Seoul and Washington.