WASHINGTON — When President Trump meets North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, next week in Vietnam, his advisers hope to hammer out a road map for ridding the reclusive state of its nuclear weapons. But Mr. Trump appears more tantalized, at least for now, by declaring an end to seven decades of war on the Korean Peninsula.
Those two goals, while not at odds, could result in a summit meeting that produces historic headlines but does little to advance the core American objective of eliminating North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
Administration officials insisted Wednesday that disarmament remains Mr. Trump's "overriding goal." An American delegation recently visited Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, for preparatory talks with North Korean officials before Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim sit down for their second summit meeting, on Feb. 27 and 28, and the officials said they were pushing for concrete steps by the North.
But the president said recently that he was in no hurry to force North Korea to give up all of its weapons. Among the potential outcomes in Hanoi, according to experts briefed by the Trump administration, is an agreement that would trade a peace declaration for a North Korean commitment to open up and dismantle a handful of nuclear or missile facilities.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/us/politics/trump-kim-north-korea.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Would a peace declaration with NK be a wise move? Would South Korea and Japan agree with this measure even if NK disarms their nuclear armament completely?
Those two goals, while not at odds, could result in a summit meeting that produces historic headlines but does little to advance the core American objective of eliminating North Korea's nuclear arsenal.
Administration officials insisted Wednesday that disarmament remains Mr. Trump's "overriding goal." An American delegation recently visited Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, for preparatory talks with North Korean officials before Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim sit down for their second summit meeting, on Feb. 27 and 28, and the officials said they were pushing for concrete steps by the North.
But the president said recently that he was in no hurry to force North Korea to give up all of its weapons. Among the potential outcomes in Hanoi, according to experts briefed by the Trump administration, is an agreement that would trade a peace declaration for a North Korean commitment to open up and dismantle a handful of nuclear or missile facilities.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/us/politics/trump-kim-north-korea.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage
Would a peace declaration with NK be a wise move? Would South Korea and Japan agree with this measure even if NK disarms their nuclear armament completely?
