Trump Sees 'brilliant Potential' For N.Korea As Summit Prep Continues
Anees Ahmed (@Aneesah05582539) Published May 28, 2018 | 10:40 AM
US and North Korean officials met Sunday at a border truce village as preparations resumed for a high-stakes, high-drama summit that President Donald Trump said held "brilliant potential" for the North.
Washington, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th May, 2018 ) :US and North Korean officials met Sunday at a border truce village as preparations resumed for a high-stakes, high-drama summit that President Donald Trump said held "brilliant potential" for the North.
"I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial Nation one day," Trump said on Twitter. "Kim Jong Un agrees with me on this. It will happen!," the president said, confirming that a US team "has arrived in North Korea to make arrangements for the summit" between himself and North Korean leader Kim.
His upbeat language contrasted sharply to that of only three days earlier, when Trump canceled the planned summit, citing "open hostility" from the North. An extraordinary flurry of diplomacy since then -- much of it led by South Korea -- appears to have put the meeting back on track.
Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Saturday at the Panmunjom border truce village, in a surprise bid to salvage the June 12 summit planned for Singapore. Announcing the lower-level talks held Sunday, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, "We continue to prepare for a meeting between the President and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un." The Washington Post reported that the US delegation to the Panmunjom meeting -- in the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea -- was led by Sung Kim, a former US ambassador to South Korea and former nuclear negotiator with the North.
It said the Americans met with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui. The United States currently has no ambassador to South Korea, even as it takes up one of the most delicate diplomatic challenges in years.
It remains far from clear how Trump and Kim might be able to bridge what appear to be vast differences in their expectations for what would be a historic meeting. But analysts on Sunday expressed increasing confidence that it will take place.
- Days of brinkmanship - The apparent progress in the on-again-off-again talks followed a tense and turbulent few days of diplomatic brinkmanship. Within 24 hours of cancelling the summit Trump reversed course, saying it could still go ahead after productive talks were held with North Korean officials.
"It's moving along very nicely," Trump said at the White House on Saturday.
"We're looking at June 12 in Singapore. That hasn't changed." Trump's abrupt decision to pull out of the historic get-together had blindsided South Korea and Moon, who had been brokering a remarkable detente between Washington and Pyongyang in a bid to avoid a devastating conflict.
But Trump accompanied the cancellation with a letter to Kim that mixed tough language with an almost beseeching plea to get things back on track. Some critics mocked the letter's tone, but it may have achieved the desired result.
- Kim 'met his match' - James Clapper, director of US national intelligence under former president Barack Obama, told CNN: "I support the letter that President Trump sent... In some ways, Kim Jong Un may have met his match here with our very unconventional president." Victor Cha, who was President George W.
Bush's top advisor on North Korea and was briefly expected to get Trump's nod as ambassador to South Korea, said Sunday he was now confident the summit will take place. "The summit's going forward" despite the unusually rushed pace of diplomacy and series of turnabouts.
The Moon and Trump administrations very much want the meeting, he said, "and Kim says he wants a summit, so it's going to happen." There are still stark differences between what the two sides hope to achieve.
Washington wants North Korea to quickly give up all its nuclear weapons in a verifiable way in return for sanctions and economic relief. Pyongyang has a different view of denuclearization and remains deeply worried that abandoning its deterrent would leave the country -- and its leader -- vulnerable, especially while the United States maintains a robust military presence in South Korea.
Kim "has almost an emotional attachment and a personal psychological attachment to these nuclear weapons," US Senator Marco Rubio said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "They make him feel prestigious, they make him feel powerful." Rubio said he was extremely skeptical that Kim might actually give up his nuclear arsenal.
If Trump is unable to negotiate those weapons away and unwilling to live in a world where North Korea poses a nuclear threat, then "you're going to have to do something to go after them at some point," the senator said. "It's not something that I relish or take lightly," Rubio said.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
Currency Rate In Pakistan - Dollar, Euro, Pound, Riyal Rates On 28 April 2024
Today Gold Rate in Pakistan 28 April 2024
Fresh wave of rainfall in AJK continues for the second consecutive day
Babar, bowlers help Pakistan level series 2-2 against New Zealand
Attack in restive Chilean province leaves three police officers dead
PM, Saudi Royal court advisor discuss ways to boost economic ties
England clinch third successive Women's Six Nations Grand Slam
DC Bahawalnagar leads fight for fair bread prices
Sheffield Utd relegated from Premier League
02 proclaimed offenders arrested by Wah Police
Pakistan level T20I series with nine-run victory over New Zealand
Minister meets Chinese Consul General, discusses bilateral cooperation, Chinese ..
More Stories From World
-
Football: French Ligue 1 table
4 hours ago -
Inter continue Serie A title party as Bologna slip in Champions League bid
4 hours ago -
Paris Saint-Germain win Ligue 1 title after Monaco defeat
4 hours ago -
Man City see off Forest to close on Premier League leaders Arsenal
5 hours ago -
Italian PM Meloni says will stand in EU elections
5 hours ago -
Masood Khan hails Pakistani-American physicians role in upgrading Pakistan's healthcare system; also ..
5 hours ago
-
Celtic down Dundee to stay on course for Scottish Premiership crown
6 hours ago -
Ireland will act to send asylum seekers back to UK: PM
6 hours ago -
Kainz keeps Cologne's hope alive with late equaliser at Mainz
6 hours ago -
Tennis: ATP/WTA Madrid Open results - 1st update
6 hours ago -
Inter continue Serie A title party as Bologna slip in Champions League bid
6 hours ago -
Masood Khan hails Pakistani-American physicians role in upgrading Pakistan's healthcare system; also ..
6 hours ago