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Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un met last month
When he emerged from his summit with Kim Jong Un last month, President Donald Trump triumphantly declared that North Korea no longer represented a threat nuclear. However, in the days and weeks that followed, US negotiators faced strong resistance from a North Korean team practicing the art of delay and obscuration.
Diplomats say North Koreans canceled follow-up meetings, demanded more money and failed to maintain basic communications, even as formerly isolated regime commitments with China and South Korea South bloom
. Pyongyang works to hide key aspects of its nuclear program
The lack of immediate progress, although predicted by many analysts, has frustrated the president, who railed at his helpers "
" Discussions are continuing and are going very well, "Trump told reporters on Tuesday.
The accounts of the dynamics of internal administration come from halfway conversations. A dozen White House aides, State Department officials and diplomats, who spoke about the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.
Officials say that Trump was appeased by the nuclear talks, asking staff members for daily updates on the status of negotiations. His frustration at the lack of progress is accompanied by an irritation of the media coverage of the joint statement that he signed on June 12 in Singapore, document that contains no timetable denuclearization details but has reduced tensions between the two countries.
"Trump was hit with a strong dose of reality from North Korea's negotiating style, which is still hard for Americans to understand," said Duyeon Kim, a Korean expert at the Center for New Security. American
. Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo has tried to extract concessions from his counterpart, Kim Yong Chol, a former chief of espionage considered by the Trump administration as intransigent and unable to negotiate in any way. outside of Kim's most explicit guidelines. Jong Un.
A weak point from the point of view of US officials came during Pompeo's third visit to Pyongyang on July 6, when he urged North Korean officials to deter his plans for the return of the remains. of American soldiers killed during the Korean War, as they agreed to do in Singapore. The issue had been discussed at several meetings and considered by the United States as an easy way for North Korea to demonstrate its sincerity.
But when Pompeo arrived in Pyongyang, the North Koreans insisted that they were not yet ready to engage. According to diplomats familiar with the discussions
the delay angered US officials, who were under pressure to deliver Trump's untimely announcement on June 20 that North Korea had already "returned" the remains of 200 soldiers .
The feeling worsened when Kim Jong Un chose not to meet Pompeo during his stay as planned. Pompeo later denied that a meeting was scheduled, a statement contradicted by diplomats who said the secretary initially intended to see the North Korean leader.
Unable to secure an agreement over the remains during his trip, Pompeo arranged for a meeting between North Koreans and their counterparts in the Pentagon to discuss the issue in the demilitarized zone on July 12. However, the North let the US defense officials wait three hours before calling for the cancellation, diplomats said. The North Koreans then requested a meeting with a senior military officer
"Let another US representative stand at the altar, wait for the North Korean representative to show up, add insult to the injury, "said Bruce Klingner, a North Korean scholar at the Conservative Heritage Foundation. "Pyongyang has returned to his heavy bargaining tactics."
The Trump administration maintained strong public support for the negotiations, even as North Korea denounced the "unilateral, denuclearization-like" demand of the United States. after Pompeo's last visit and described the discussions as "cancerous."
On Wednesday, Trump said that he got a commitment from Russia to "help" with the problem of North Korea. " The process is moving forward, "he tweeted." Great benefits and a promising future for North Korea at the end of the process! "
But at the end of last week, in meetings with his collaborators, Trump inherited the lack of positive developments in the negotiations.And Friday, at the United Nations, its ambassador, Nikki Haley, accused Russia of blocking efforts to discipline illegal smuggling in North Korea.
Trump and his senior team "have not completely abandoned" the goal of complete denuclearization, but they worry, said a person familiar with the discussions.
Trump told CBS this week that "I do not am not really in a hurry, I mean all it takes, it takes, "he said.
This more patient approach contrasts with previous demands of the Trump administration asking North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program in one year
"Trump is too inclined to leave at this time," said Victor Cha, North Korean expert. that the Trump administration has almost chosen to be the next US ambassador to Seoul. "At least until mid-session."
U.S. Officials blame some of the blame on Kim Yong Chol, who, despite being the chief negotiator for North Korea, has always blocked talks saying he's not empowered to talk about a whole series of relevant questions. He declined to discuss the opening of a reliable communication channel or even specific goals for Pompeo's next trip to Pyongyang, the diplomat said at a meeting in Washington. Department head Sung Kim and CIA officer Andy Kim wanted to discuss Pompeo's visit and make progress in bringing back the remains of fallen soldiers. But Kim Yong Chol said that he was only allowed to receive a letter Trump had written to Kim Jong Un.
When US officials tried to raise substantive issues, Kim Yong Chol resisted and said continued to ask for the letter. Unable to progress, the Americans eventually handed in the letter and ended the meeting after only one hour
"[Kim] has a reputation for being extremely rude and aggressive," said Sung-Yoon Lee, a North academic -Korean to
Kim Yong Chol's negotiation tactics so frustrated US officials that many expressed the hope that he would be replaced as chief negotiator by Ri Yong Ho, the foreign minister North, more pleasant. The exchange seemed possible due to the joint statement in Singapore, which explicitly named Pompeo as the best US negotiator, but qualified his counterpart as a "relevant senior official of the DPRK."
"I think that there is a debate in the North Korea has appointed Kim Yong Chol or Ri Yong Ho as its counterpart, "said Mr. Cha, who is also a researcher at Georgetown University." Ri knows better the problems and speaks perfect English.Kim is a former spy, not a negotiator. "
Ri hosted Pompeo at the airport earlier this month alongside Kim Yong Chol, but l 39; former spying chief spent more time with Pompeo During the two-day visit, any other top North Korean official seems to solidify his position
In the absence of progress on denuclearization, the Trump administration will likely focus on the remains of In the demilitarized zone on Sunday, the two sides agreed to restart field operations to search for the remains of some 5,300 Americans still missing from the conflict in North Korea. Pompeo said this week that he believed the first sets would arrive in the United States "in the next two weeks".
U.S. Officials familiar with the talks indicated that the North was committed to returning 55 sets of remains on July 27, the 65th anniversary of the signing of an armistice that ended the war. But Pentagon officials, who sent transit cases to the demilitarized zone a few weeks ago, are wary of commitments made by North Korea because of its earlier cancellations
. been uneven and unresponsive through intelligence and diplomatic channels, US officials said. Both parties have established working groups to improve the communication problem, said a senior official of the State Department.
Many senior security and intelligence officials have long doubted that North Korea is meeting its commitments. But some analysts believe that a tolerant approach always offers the best prospects.
"I fear that Trump will lose patience with the length and complexity of the negotiations that are common when it comes to North Korea., And move away and back to considerations serious of the military option, "said Kim Duyeon, the Korean scholar. "Getting a nuclear deal takes a lot of time and implementing it will be even harder."
(Except for the title, this story was not published by the NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated flow.)
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