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The Memo: Will Trump-Kim summit sequel produce results? | TheHill

posted onFebruary 26, 2019
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MORE is talking up the prospects for his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam this week, but foreign policy experts are skeptical real progress will be made. Trump has placed a lot of emphasis on his apparent personal chemistry with Kim, but even conservative analysts are unpersuaded this will count for very much in the end. “A relationship by itself is not an accomplishment,” said Bruce Klingner, a Korean specialist at the conservative Heritage Foundation.  Klingner, a former CIA deputy division chief for Korea, added, “What we need are tangible, unambiguous, written North Korean commitments to the United Nations definition of what denuclearization is. We still don’t have a common definition.” Trump seems to see things very differently, believing his unpredictable approach is paying dividends. The president has often alarmed the Washington foreign policy establishment in his dealings with Pyongyang — firstly, by using incendiary rhetoric that included branding Kim as “Little Rocket Man” and then by agreeing to meet the North Korean leader in Singapore last June. The Singapore summit made global headlines, not least because of the spectacle of the two controversial leaders coming face to face. It was the first ever in-person meeting between an American president and a North Korean leader. Trump argues this was a breakthrough — and that his deal-making abilities could pave the way to resolving tensions that have previously been intractable. Ther... Link to the full article to read more

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