One of the negotiators who helped secure the release of American student Otto Warmbier says North Korea has wanted a formal sit-down with a U. S. president for years. Now they’ve got it.
Donald Trump ‘s upcoming meeting with the leader of North Korea will likely produce some feel-good statements and a plan for further negotiations, but one expert says there’s one thing the American president can forget about: North Korea giving up its nukes.
“They might be willing to give up the further proliferation, the development and testing of nuclear and ballistic missiles, but they will not disarm. (Nuclear capability) is the reason why they believe the president has met with them.”
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Bergman was one of the negotiators who helped secure the release of American student Otto Warmbier, who was imprisoned in North Korea in January 2016, and died after returning to U. S. soil in a coma. He said that western nations tend to interpret North Korea’s actions based on their own worldview, which leads to a fundamental misunderstanding of motivations.
“They always wanted to meet the American president. Former American presidents said no, (and) said we will meet if we have a deal (for denuclearization).”
Trump, who was in Quebec’s Charlevoix region on Friday for the G7 leaders’ meeting, has been a different kind of president, however.
