North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is as strong as ever, following Trump’s talks last year with Kim Jong-un.
President Donald Trump announced plans for a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, as experts — including his own military and security advisers — warned that the upcoming meeting is likely to yield as few tangible results as the first one.
Trump announced at the State of the Union speech late Tuesday that he will meet with Kim in Vietnam on Feb. 27 and 28. Stephen Biegun, the president’s envoy to North Korea, was in Pyongyang Wednesday to lay the groundwork for the summit later this month.
The two leaders’ first meeting in Singapore last June led to an agreement that Pyongyang would “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” but North Korea has not made any progress on that goal in the months since.
Trump claimed credit in his speech for averting war between the U. S. and North Korea, saying the two countries would be “in a major war” by now, had he not been elected president.
The comment drew audible groans from congressional Democrats before House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who was seated on the dais behind Trump, raised a hand to silence them.
“Kim Jong-un has to be extremely pleased that he’s been able to get legitimacy on an international front, and has done virtually nothing to change his behavior within his own country,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN on Wednesday.
“It is baffling, again, as to what the president expects to achieve by a second summit.”
A panel of U. N. experts has found that North Korea has made no progress on denuclearization and is actively working to hide its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities from possible U.
