Trump looks to North Korea after midterm losses
Asian officials expect the president to seek a summit with Kim Jong Un, though Pyongyang currently sees little reason to negotiate.
By Matthew Qureshi ·
President Donald Trump is expected to pursue new negotiations with North Korea following his losses in the November midterm elections. Asian analysts and officials say the electoral setback will push the president to focus on foreign policy achievements in the final two years of his term.
The White House stated that Trump has restored American strength on the global stage. Spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in emailed comments that his foreign policy decisions are never motivated by politics and that he acts in the best interest of the American people.
Trump previously met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times during his first term. Their 2019 summit ended without an agreement on nuclear weapons and sanctions relief. Seven years later, North Korea possesses a larger nuclear and missile arsenal. Pyongyang also maintains its strongest ties with Russia and China in years, which reduces Kim's incentive to negotiate.
US and South Korean officials believe the chance of a meeting this year is fading. Washington received no response from Pyongyang ahead of a regional summit in China this month. Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, said dialog remains a path to peace but denied US claims that North Korea stole more than $6 billion in virtual assets from Binance last week.
Kim has said he is open to talks if Washington stops demanding that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons. South Korea and Japan oppose that concession. Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said a summit that shelves denuclearization would undermine deterrence and create friction between Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo.
Senior Japanese officials worry they will be left out of any deal between the US and North Korea. One anonymous official said Japanese leaders are concerned about the lengths Trump will go to secure a summit, including dropping the denuclearization issue. Trump has referred to North Korea as a nuclear power, a status Western allies have refused to recognize despite Pyongyang's stockpile of warheads.
Kazuhiro Maeshima, a professor at Sophia University in Japan, said accepting North Korea's nuclear status would change the security environment in Asia dramatically. He noted that the biggest change since World War II could occur in the remaining two years of the Trump administration.
Trump might need to offer more than partial sanctions relief to bring Kim to the table. Moon Chung-in, a Yonsei University professor and former presidential adviser, said a Democratic-controlled Congress could block such concessions. Stephen Biegun, who led US negotiations with North Korea during Trump's first term, said Pyongyang has very little upside to a meeting right now.
