PRESIDENT Trump’s Hanoi summit with Kim Jong Un, meant to demonstrate his diplomatic gamble with North Korea is working, instead ended with no joint agreement after Kim insisted all US sanctions on his country be lifted.
That was a bridge too far for the US President, who said Kim offered to take some steps toward dismantling his nuclear arsenal but not enough to warrant ending the debilitating sanctions regime on the country. But it was evident from early in the summit that Trump was seeking to tamp down expectations, repeating he’s in no rush to strike a deal even if North Korea continues to advance its nuclear weapons program.
Trump cast the lack of deal as only a short-term disappointment, even though he’d hoped coming into the talks to be able to point to a new, concrete pathway toward denuclearization.
The personal chemistry that Trump has cultivated– and loudly trumpeted — with the young despotic leader remains intact, the President insisted.
Still, the absence of a joint agreement reflects an anticlimax for a summit event Trump had hoped would prove naysayers of his diplomacy wrong. He conceded that US and North Korean officials remain at odds about the precise definition of denuclearization, which is the ostensible goal of his efforts. And he described Kim as singularly focused on ending the sanctions that have crippled his economy and helped bring him to the negotiating table in the first place.
It was inconceivable that Kim would dismantle his nuclear arsenal just to get the sanctions lifted. Kim knows that the main reason why he is still in power is because of these weapons. If he were to completely abandon the programme his only leverage with Big Powers like the US would be over. At that stage there would be nothing separating him from Muammar Gaddafi or other dictators who have had the misfortune to get the wrong end of the stick from the Big Powers.
So what options remain? Kim is intelligent enough to not gamble away his only leverage points just for an end to sanctions–knowing full well that its the only thing that keeps his regime in power. So what remains–essentially nothing, despite the rhetoric of Trump. Kim doesn’t care about his people enough to get the sanctions lifted. He is more than happy to barter privileges in his nation among his chosen elite to ensure that they remain in his pocket. At this point in time he has no reason to give away the only thing that keeps him in power.
That was a bridge too far for the US President, who said Kim offered to take some steps toward dismantling his nuclear arsenal but not enough to warrant ending the debilitating sanctions regime on the country. But it was evident from early in the summit that Trump was seeking to tamp down expectations, repeating he’s in no rush to strike a deal even if North Korea continues to advance its nuclear weapons program.
Trump cast the lack of deal as only a short-term disappointment, even though he’d hoped coming into the talks to be able to point to a new, concrete pathway toward denuclearization.
The personal chemistry that Trump has cultivated– and loudly trumpeted — with the young despotic leader remains intact, the President insisted.
Still, the absence of a joint agreement reflects an anticlimax for a summit event Trump had hoped would prove naysayers of his diplomacy wrong. He conceded that US and North Korean officials remain at odds about the precise definition of denuclearization, which is the ostensible goal of his efforts. And he described Kim as singularly focused on ending the sanctions that have crippled his economy and helped bring him to the negotiating table in the first place.
It was inconceivable that Kim would dismantle his nuclear arsenal just to get the sanctions lifted. Kim knows that the main reason why he is still in power is because of these weapons. If he were to completely abandon the programme his only leverage with Big Powers like the US would be over. At that stage there would be nothing separating him from Muammar Gaddafi or other dictators who have had the misfortune to get the wrong end of the stick from the Big Powers.
So what options remain? Kim is intelligent enough to not gamble away his only leverage points just for an end to sanctions–knowing full well that its the only thing that keeps his regime in power. So what remains–essentially nothing, despite the rhetoric of Trump. Kim doesn’t care about his people enough to get the sanctions lifted. He is more than happy to barter privileges in his nation among his chosen elite to ensure that they remain in his pocket. At this point in time he has no reason to give away the only thing that keeps him in power.
