Just a week ahead of the second summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un,
President Trump is rejecting any sense of urgency, saying that he is “in
no rush” and sees “no pressing time schedule” for finalizing denuclearization.
Trump and Kim agreed on denuclearization in general during last year’s
summit, and Trump is optimistic about this next round of talks, to be
held in Hanoi. He says “very positive things are going to happen.”
Progress has been slow going, and North Korea has expressed particular
frustration that the US has further increased sanctions and other
restrictions on them after starting to dismantle the program. Trump insists all sanctions will remain in place even after these talks.
So while Trump is expecting a positive outcome, and the two leaders
appear to get along quite well, North Korea’s expectation to get
something about of the deal, and Trump’s determination not to give them
anything, is a big obstacle to get over.
Don’t worry about those nagging sanctions North Korea. You should know by now, we want everything up front.
Likely progress in Korea isn’t important until the runup to 2020.