It’s no secret that President Trump has little diplomatic knowledge or experience nor does he have the patience to devote the time necessary to fully prepare for a high level summit, says Leon Panetta.
Kim Jong Un took an important step to reinforce his position in a summit with President Trump by going to China and getting President Xi ‘s support for his negotiating position.
South Korea ‘s President Moon is moving forward with a meeting in April with North Korea to discuss issues of mutual concern prior to any summit in May.
President Trump tweeted recently that » there is a good chance that Kim Jong Un will do what is right for his people and for humanity. Look forward to our meeting! «
While North and South Korea are obviously preparing and taking substantive steps to improve their leverage in any future negotiation, the president appears to be doing little to fully prepare for the complex issues that will have to be addressed at any summit. Instead, he is tweeting his hope for a successful summit.
A serious negotiation with North Korea would have to include Mr. Trump pressing Mr. Kim to freeze nuclear and missile testing, halt the production of nuclear weapons fuel and the deployment of nuclear weapons, and establish a verification process that will require an inspection regime.
Assuming there is a verification process agreed to that will ensure North Korean compliance, the United States and its allies will have to consider what steps they will be prepared to take in return: force structure reductions, economic aid, issues related to a permanent peace agreement with North Korea.
