The historic Trump-Kim summit is just 48 hours away, and both leaders have arrived in Singapore. Kim arrived on an Air China plane Sunday afternoon local time, and Trump arrived just hours later at Paya Lebar Air Base.
This caps weeks of questions around the summit. President Trump withdrew from the summit after North Korea angrily condemned John Bolton’s talk of a “Libya model.” North Korea remained patient, and after another week of lower-level talks, Trump said the talks would happen as originally scheduled.
Trump has been very public about not participating in a lot of preparations before the talks, saying he believes it will be about attitude and not preparation. Trump has said a peace deal is possible in North Korea, and says any agreement will be “spur of the moment.”
A peace deal would end the Korean War, which began in 1950. Though signing such a deal isn’t specifically on the schedule, there largely isn’t anything planned, and that means such deals could happen. President Trump has said the summit is the start of a process, and raised the possibility of inviting Kim to the White House if the talks go well.
The big goal is denuclearization, with both sides having made clear that’s a major focus of the talks. Details of how long this will take is unclear, and some officials who are less pro-diplomacy, like Bolton, are suggesting “denuclearization” also covers North Korea’s missiles, chemical and biological arsenals, and their means to produce any of them.
That’s probably a non-starter, as North Korea has long said it needs a deterrent from a US attack. Bolton’s talk of a “Libya model,” in which Libya disarmed and a few years later the US led a NATO attack imposing regime change, underscores exactly why North Korea will want some deterrent left, even if it is non-nuclear.
trumpster will after a few minutes declare that the North is lying and walk of the meeting declaring victory. Then on to air force 1 for the return flight tweeting all the way home how great he is..
South Korea and the North will come to an understanding and declare peace with the Russian and China standing in the back ground either laughing or smiling at a deal done and Amerika is the loser.
Their hotels are so close, this event must be a feeding frenzy for “escort” services in Singapore.
Trump should bring a copy of the JCPOA(plus Pompeo’s 12 demands) and ask NK to read it and get back to him if they agree to something more intrusive. Why beat around the bush? We should make all unreasonable demands standard no matter who is on the other side of the table.
There are ways to offer the North real security without nukes. We won’t offer any of them. Essential parts of the Washington Blob intend regime change.
That isn’t Trump. He’s probably oblivious, going right over his head.
Perhaps the Chinese and the South Koreans can push a plan on Trump that could do this. There really is no other source. Our own long term institutions of government are against peace, not just for the sake of Korea, but for the sake of using it to project US power into the region.
This is all for show. It would be an f-ing miracle if Trump didn’t take one look at Kim and realize that they are both the same, like two children trying to own the same sandbox. He will take his toys and go home. Bolton will be smiling.
My god. All you earlier commenters are scum.
Can the world and with help from US, China, Russia, and S.Korea obtain the denuclearization [WMD-free Korean Peninsula] w.o. the world’s removal of US troops from the yet-to-be-united Korea and w.o removal of all sanctions?
Silly question, Right? For, it had always been easily done. So, why wasn’t it done if it could have been done in a five-minutes-talk between just two men or two women?
Singapore is a a minor incident that distracts attention from something more important. The Trump-Kim meeting is simply a side-show to the principal activity, which involves China, Russia, and especially the Koreas, and will be based upon the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula which includes:
WaPo news report:
President Moon has ordered his officials to start figuring out what economic
engagement projects can be undertaken without contravening existing sanctions and to look at what should be delayed until after Kim and Trump meet. This prospect is already causing heartburn among hard-liners in Washington who view the South Korean president as too willing to take Kim at his word. But supporters say Moon is no naif.“South Korea has shown substantial enthusiasm to resume economic exchanges with the North,” said Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute, a government-affiliated think tank. But nothing will begin until “after substantial progress has been made towards denuclearization,” he said.
Bolton must be one of the worst members of any delegation ever to try to make a deal with any value.