President Donald Trump has actively cultivated an air of suspense around his upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but his decision last week to add another dose of reality-TV drama by teasing the release of three Americans currently being detained by the regime is raising concerns
„It doesn’t take an expert to recognize that negotiations about detained US citizens can be extremely delicate,“ Mintaro Oba, a former Korea desk officer at the State Department under Obama, told CNN on Monday.
„Raising expectations in public is a dangerous game, one that can signal to the other country that you now have a lot more to lose if the deal falls through,“ he said.
Trump and Rudy Giuliani, a member of Trump’s legal team but not himself an employee of the government, both seemed to get out ahead of the White House and the State Department by hinting an announcement could be coming soon.
Trump tweeted about the Americans last Wednesday evening with instructions to „stay tuned.“
And Giuliani said Saturday that „there is a good chance“ that three Americans detained in North Korea „will be released over the next several days,“ despite saying Thursday that the release would take place that day.
An official with knowledge of the ongoing negotiations told CNN the release of the detained Americans is „imminent“ following months of talks.
But inside the White House and State Department, however, officials were still working to verify reports the three Americans had been moved from labor camps to a hotel in Pyongyang. The families of the prisoners, meanwhile, said they had received no new information about their loved ones.
