Since the blockbuster announcement that President Trump had agreed to meet with Kim Jong-un, reclusive North Korea has fallen largely silent, leading to speculation about when, where — and even whether — such a meeting will even take place.
Since the blockbuster announcement that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wanted to meet with President Trump and the U. S. president had accepted the invitation, North Korea has largely gone silent.
It’s led to speculation about when, where — and even whether — such a meeting will take place, especially given the diplomatic and security advance work typical for such high-stakes talks. The Trump administration said the summit could happen as early as May.
« There has been an expectation that there would be more productive conversations, and that has not materialized, » said Scott Snyder, a senior fellow for Korean studies and director of the program on U. S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. « People are waiting to see that. »
Kim’s government has yet to discuss the summit — which would be the first for a sitting U. S. president and a North Korean leader — in state media, a primary tool for communicating with outsiders. It hasn’t even confirmed offering the meeting, much less potential sites.
The lack of public momentum in recent days likely reflects the secrecy of the totalitarian state, whose rapid development as a nuclear nation shocked the international community last year. North Korea remains an enigma to Western spy agencies. The apparent lack of movement perhaps also reflects the ongoing tumult inside the Trump administration.
The president, for example, last week fired his chief diplomat, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and a long-rumored shake-up on his national security team could be looming.
Still, subtle signs of progress were evident this week.
Trump and South Korea’s pro-dialogue president, Moon Jae-in, discussed the potential summit on Friday. Trump reiterated his desire to meet Kim by the end of May, and both leaders expressed « cautious optimism » about recent developments on the peninsula, the White House said in a readout of the discussion.
Those developments have included an overture by Kim — who oversaw numerous illicit test missile launches and a hydrogen bomb detonation in 2017 — about his desire for the North to participate in the Winter Olympics, held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, last month.
The statement led to a flurry of inter-Korean diplomacy, offering hope of reduced tensions and better relations, which have soured in recent years as the North defied the international community and stepped up its nuclear development.
