Trump Plans to Reschedule North Korea Summit
By The New York Times. President Trump said on Friday that the White House was back in touch with North Korea and that the two sides might reschedule his summit meeting with Kim Jong-un, a startling reversal that revealed not only Mr. Trump’s improvisational approach to diplomacy but also deep divisions among his advisers about the risks of going ahead.
Twenty-four hours after announcing that he was calling off the meeting in a letter to Mr. Kim, the North’s leader, Mr. Trump told reporters that he and Mr. Kim might yet meet in Singapore on June 12.
Before boarding Marine One on his way to deliver a commencement address at the United States Naval Academy, Mr. Trump said that he welcomed a conciliatory statement issued by North Korea in response to his announcement on Thursday. North Korea, it said, was “willing to sit down with the United States any time, in any format, to resolve the problems,” and urged the president to reconsider. (Read more from “Trump Plans to Reschedule North Korea Summit” HERE)
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It Is Welcome News That the Korea Summit Is Once Again Set to Go Ahead – Particularly for Those Living in the South
By The Independent. It is not impossible that Kim Jong-un is a master of diplomacy. Certainly, he is making the Americans appear if not amateurish then unsure, although that in itself may not be difficult.
The on-again, off-again nature of the summit between the leaders of the United States and North Korea may, paradoxically, be emblematic of Donald Trump’s confused presidency, but is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the vacillation is a consequence of Mr Kim’s manipulation of the scenario than part of a White House master plan.
That the proposed meeting between these giant egos is now seemingly set to proceed once more is welcome news, of course. Putting to one side the extraordinary theatre that surrounds these two strongmen of 21st century politics, it is unquestionable that the world – and especially the Korean peninsular – will be a safer place if Mr Kim curtails his nuclear ambitions.
To that end, the quiet resolve of South Korea remains crucial in bridging the divide (rhetorical or substantive) between Pyongyang and Washington.
Indeed, it is the people living in the South who – along with their neighbours in the North – have most to gain from full and lasting detente and from Mr Kim’s potential agreement to halt his nuclear weapons programme. (Read more from “It Is Welcome News That the Korea Summit Is Once Again Set to Go Ahead – Particularly for Those Living in the South” HERE)
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