One of the most effective tools North Korea has in its negotiations with the U. S. is the four-point document President Trump signed with Kim Jong-un in June.
SEOUL, South Korea — In hailing the deal he reached with Kim Jong-un this summer in Singapore, President Trump said it “largely solved” the North Korean nuclear crisis.
He has since doubled down on that statement, most recently on Tuesday. “People don’t realize the importance of the first meeting,” he said. “I mean, we said, ‘Point No. 1: denuclearization.’ They’ve agreed to denuclearization.”
It was actually the third bullet point in the four-point Singapore agreement, and for the North Koreans, the order of those bullet points is everything. It will only agree to denuclearize once Washington commits to the first and second points: Mr. Trump’s promise to build “new” relations and a “peace regime” in Korea — and makes North Korea feel secure enough to disarm.
The standoff shows how North Korea has turned the deal Mr. Trump signed with its leader, Mr. Kim, into one of its most effective cudgels in talks with Washington over denuclearization, ceaselessly flaunting it to force American concessions.
For all the warm talk between Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim, the differing interpretations of the Singapore deal show the two sides remain locked in the same yearslong stalemate, with Washington focused on denuclearizing North Korea and the North using its nuclear weapons as leverage to win diplomatic recognition from the United States and seek a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War. And those differing readings of the deal raise questions about whether Mr. Trump will ever succeed in getting North Korea to denuclearize.
Even President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, who has positioned himself as a mediator between Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim, has said that to denuclearize the North, Washington must build Mr. Kim’s confidence that his country can survive without nuclear weapons. And many analysts agree.
“A country like North Korea — a small and weak country diplomatically isolated and economically devastated and a country surrounded by big powers — may feel very insecure, even though its neighboring countries have no intention to attack them,” said Yoon Young-kwan, a former South Korean foreign minister and professor emeritus at Seoul National University.
Skeptics warn that in its talks with the United States, North Korea is giving up just enough to create the illusion of progress while enabling Mr. Trump to claim victory.
This year, North Korea imposed a voluntary moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests and shut down its underground nuclear test site.
