Feb. 28, 2019–U.S. President Donald Trump and DPRK Leader Kim Jong Un concluded their series of meetings in Hanoi, Vietnam without a signing ceremony or changes in policies.
“Sometimes you have to walk, and this was just one of those times,” Trump said at a televised press conference after the meetings. “At this time, we had some options, and at this time we decided not to do any of the options.”
The United States has been pushing the North Korean state to denuclearize — a term that could include accounting for its nuclear weapons, allowing international inspectors inside its facilities and dismantling them.
North Korea has been asking the international community to lift economic sanctions against it, at least partially.
Flattery and Promises of Economic Success
Throughout the meetings Trump appeared to praise Kim, with whom Trump says he has “a very special relationship.”
As he has in the past, Trump appeared to entice the dictator away from an adversarial relationship with offers of economic prosperity.
“I think that your country has tremendous economic potential. Unbelievable. Unlimited,” Trump said. “And I think that you will have a tremendous future with your country — a great leader.”
More striking, prior to the summit, the U.S. president seemed to soften the U.S. stance on denuclearization. “I’m not in a rush. I don’t want to rush anybody,” Trump said on Monday. “I just don’t want testing. As long as there’s no testing, we’re happy.”
But U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo contradicted that.
“We have economic sanctions in place. We know the standard for relieving those sanctions. I am very hopeful we will make a substantial step in achieving the denuclearization in a verifiable way in North Korea,” Pompeo told CNN’s State of the Union.
Nuclear Weapons
One option North Korea reportedly offered was to decommission a nuclear research site called Yongbyon. It is the DPRK’s first nuclear reactor site, opened in 1986, located North of Pyongyang, according to Channel News Asia. It is not clear how relevant that site is today to the country’s nuclear program as a whole.
In a press briefing with Trump, Kim acknowledged that denuclearization is a possibility. Asked whether he was willing to denuclearize, Kim said, “That is what we are discussing right now.” But following the Singapore summit last Summer, it was clear the two countries have differing definitions of that.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said that the Yongbyon offer is the best his country would make.
“This proposal was the biggest denuclearisation measure we could take at the present stage when taking into consideration the current level of confidence between the DPRK and the United States,” Ri said after the summit, the BBC reported. “Our principal stand will remain invariable and our proposals will never change, even if the United States proposes negotiations again in the future.”
Inventory and Inspections
Perhaps what Pompeo meant by saying full denuclearization would need to be verifiable is that it would include inspections and dismantling of all sites.
According to CBS News, U.S. diplomats wanted an inventory of nuclear sites in North Korea and permission to let inspectors inside to monitor the sites.
Meanwhile, despite the apparent failure in negotiations, Trump insisted talks were “all leading toward a very — a very big success.”
