‘Very risky’: Why a US expert warns against a potential summit by Trump and Kim Jong-un

Joel S. Wit, a distinguished fellow at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center and a former negotiator for North Korea’s nuclear program with the US State Department, is skeptical about the prospects for Pyongyang-Washington dialogue, and instead urges us to take a realistic look at the North given substantive changes to the country over the last 30 years. During a virtual talk at Monday’s Global Korea Forum, held at the Korea Federation of Banks in Seoul, Wit warned that “it would be very risky to get President Trump in a room with Kim Jong-un,” saying that the US president “is very likely to agree to things that we don’t want him to agree to.” “He’s very likely to advance North Korea’s new agenda in dealing with South Korea, the United States and the international community,” he added. This reflects the reduced chances of a Washington-Pyongyang summit discussing denuclearization given advancements in North Korea’s nuclear capabilities and the waning effectiveness of sanctions due to North Korea’s increasingly close ties with Russia. Wit said the North “has very little interest” in reengaging with the US or South Korea, adding that in the past, Pyongyang was serious about dialogue and engagement but does not seem so anymore. Urging an end to the past three decades of seeking change through engagement with the North in nuclear negotiations, he said, “Charting a course forward with North Korea means we need to understand not just the history but also how North Korea of today is very different from the past.” On the Lee administration of South Korea’s phased denuclearization plan, Wit called it nothing new unless the intent is to abandon denuclearization as a goal. Comparing the first Trump administration, which took part in bilateral summits with North Korea in 2018 and 2019, with the second, Wit mentioned the stark changes to the situation today. During Trump’s first term, the researcher said, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Stephen Biegun, the special representative for North Korea policy at the time, led US policy toward North Korea and provided “guidance and a roadmap” — things that no longer exist in the Trump 2 era. “President Trump is just out of control, to be very blunt,” Wit said, arguing that the US leader’s diplomacy has “failed in so many different areas,” with the US and Israel-led war on Iran being the “most recent failure.” On his views being labeled overly pessimistic, Wit urged a coolheaded assessment of the situation, saying, “It’s not pessimism. I think it’s realism.” He proposed that the US, China, Russia and