Columns

On June 30, Trump warmly embraced Kim Jong Un, a third-generation tyrant who starves and imprisons his own people. Mr. "Art of the Deal" sure loves his dictators. Then Trump stepped into North Korea with Kim becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so. It was a made-for-TV moment for the reality show-groomed president.

What will be lost in the expected media show is that negotiations for North Korea’s nuclear disarmament will still be stalled. Kim is again stringing Trump along while Trump continues to embarrass himself and this country.

President Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un did sign a document which declared, among other things, an intention to "work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” However the document provided no details or a timeline. It has been over a year since the Singapore summit and North Korea has done nothing toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. 

What’s next? I can’t imagine Kim giving up his nuclear arsenal after spending billions creating it. After all, his nuclear arsenal was instrumental in Trump agreeing to meetings with him in Singapore, Hanoi, and Korea. The meetings elevated Kim’s prestige worldwide . 

Trump may have to welcome North Korea to the nuclear club and try to get at least an agreement on a freeze on nuclearization. But will Trump eliminate all or some of the U.S. sanctions against North Korea? National Security Advisor John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cannot be happy at such a prospect. 

Former UK Ambassador Kim Darroch summed up Trump’s presidency nicely, “We don’t really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal; less dysfunctional; less unpredictable; less faction riven; less diplomatically clumsy and inept.”