North Korea
June 12, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
From what I can tell, the summit in Singapore produced a “small ball” agreement. North Korea will return the recovered remains of POW/MIAs and work with us to recover and return additional remains. It will also shutter one missile engine testing site. The U.S. will stop holding the regular “war games” it conducts in conjunction with South Korea. (It’s not clear how the South Koreans feel about ending the “war
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June 12, 2018 — Scott Johnson
President Trump and the psycho formerly known as Little Rocket Man have concluded their summit conference in Singapore. Their time together included a working lunch resulting in a signed an anorexically skinny agreement with a provision committing North Korea to “complete denuclearization” (text here). President Trump followed up with a press conference (text here). My daughter Eliana followed the proceedings as the pool reporter on the scene. Eliana’s account for
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June 12, 2018 — Steven Hayward
One of the most important skills I learned from my teacher of international relations, the great Harold Rood of Claremont McKenna College, was how to read a newspaper. I’m not referring to what order to read the paper, or how to “deconstruct” news stories to surmise what is left out, but rather as clues to what is really going on and who has the initiative. This skill was a variation
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June 11, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Damon Linker argues that there are three potential outcomes of the Trump-Kim summit, none of which is good. The article provides an amusing illustration of how twisted the anti-Trump left has become. One outcome, says Linker, is a “modest” deal, akin to the one President Clinton reached with North Korea. Normally, says Linker, this would be a good outcome because it would avert war, at least for a while. But
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June 11, 2018 — Scott Johnson
The White House has released the statement below about the Singapore summit meeting tomorrow (embedded below via the Twitter feed of AP White House correspondent Zeke Miller). The statement relates: “The discussions between the United States and North Korea are ongoing and have moved more quickly than expected.” The summit will convene and adjourn in Singapore in the course of the coming day. Something is happening here. White House: Statement
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June 11, 2018 — Scott Johnson
Secretary Pompeo gave a press briefing on the status of negotiations with North Korea early this morning (our time). The video is below. His remarks anticipated the summit meeting tomorrow. Pompeo devoted his prepared remarks (about five minutes) almost entirely to disputing a New York Times report that the United States lacks the technical expertise to verify North Korean denuclearization. I may be mistaken about this, but I think he’s
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May 24, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
As Steve discussed earlier today, President Trump has cancelled his planned summit with Kim Jong Un. As a fan of the NBA, Kim should have seen it coming. When obnoxious leftist leaders of the Golden State Warriors indicated they might not come to the White House to be honored, Trump “uninvited” them. So Kim shouldn’t have been surprised that when his regime suggested it might cancel the summit, Trump beat
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May 24, 2018 — Steven Hayward
The White House has just announced that President Trump has cancelled the planned summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. This is an excellent move by Trump, I think. Just this morning my old AEI colleague Nick Eberstadt warned in the Wall Street Journal: North Korea is also threatening to scrap the Singapore parley unless denuclearization is taken off the agenda. There’s no need for Kremlinology here. These are standard
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May 23, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Earlier this week, President Trump seemed to suggest that, in the absence of a nuclear deal with the U.S., Kim Jong Un’s regime might suffer the same fate as the Qaddafi regime in Libya did. Mike Pence then made this threat explicit, saying: “As the president made clear, this will only end like the Libya model ended if Kim Jong Un doesn’t make a deal.” In response, North Korea’s Vice
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May 10, 2018 — Scott Johnson
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo returned in the early morning hours from North Korea with an understanding on arrangements for the Kim Jong-Un’s forthcoming meeting with President Trump. He also secured the release of the three American hostages held by the North Korean regime. President and Mrs. Trump welcomed them home at Andrews together with Vice President and Mrs. Pence. In Pompeo’s absence, Trump announced our withdrawal from “the worst
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May 9, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Is there any shot at the Trump administration too lame for the New York Times to eschew? After reading this report from Brian Flood at Fox News, I’m starting to doubt there is. On Tuesday, the Times breathlessly reported that Secretary of State Pompeo was absent from Washington when Trump announced he was pulling the U.S. out of the nuclear deal with Iran. “At a Key Moment, Trump’s Top Diplomat
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May 9, 2018 — Scott Johnson
President Trump likes to make the news himself via his Twitter feed, as he has done this morning (below). Secretary Pompeo has left North Korea with the three American prisoners held by the North Korean regime. Their detention was unjustified and represented a further source of grievance with the regime. Kim, for some reason, now seeks to make a good impression on the president of the United States. I am
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May 6, 2018 — Steven Hayward
I don’t think Churchill ever wrote much about North Korea, even though the Korean War was going on when he became prime minister for the second time in 1951, and Britain was our ally in that conflict. The outbreak of the Korean War mostly spurred on Churchill’s preexisting and controversial view in favor of German rearmament. But my mind has wandered back to some of Churchill enduring lessons as I
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May 2, 2018 — Steven Hayward
News breaking this afternoon that North Korea is releasing three American citizens it has been holding. Another point on the scoreboard for Trump’s Nork policy. Of course, this is but a small gesture on the part of the Norks, and the real business will be whether Trump can get a meaningful and enforceable deal with them. Count me skeptical about this. But still it is fun to see the creased-smarty-pants
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April 29, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
What should we make of Kim Jong Un’s promises in advance of a proposed meeting with President Trump, including his promise to give up North Korea’s nuclear arsenal if the U.S. promises not to invade? I think Walter Russel Mead answers the question correctly when he describes them as “a repackaged version of virtually every concession North Korea has ever proposed.” What should we make of Kim’s historic meeting with
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April 27, 2018 — John Hinderaker
I don’t think we have said much about what could become a stunning diplomatic triumph: the rapprochement between North Korea and South Korea, accompanied by North Korea’s commitment to denuclearization. This assessment by Todd Rosenblum at The Hill strikes me as balanced: “Stunning Korea denuclearization statement bodes well for America.” It is too early to pop champagne corks, but it would be absurd to deny that so far, President Trump
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April 21, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
President Trump is hailing North Korea’s announcement that the regime is willing to end the testing of its ICBMs. He tweeted: North Korea has agreed to suspend all Nuclear Tests and close up a major test site. This is very good news for North Korea and the World – big progress! Look forward to our Summit. I don’t want to rain on Trump’s parade. If he gets a boost in
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