FOREIGN POLICY/NORTH KOREA/SOUTH KOREA /TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “For at least two decades, leaders in North Korea have been seeking a personal meeting with an American president. Now, as a summit unexpectedly appears possible, analysts fear U.S. President Donald Trump’s understaffed administration may lack the expertise to successfully turn a political spectacle long sought by Pyongyang into a meaningful opportunity to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear program. … ‘A Trump meeting with Kim presents both risks and opportunities,’ said Bonnie Glaser, an Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. ‘The U.S. side needs to be very, very well prepared and know exactly what it wants to achieve, as well as what the U.S. is willing to provide in return.’ … ‘A summit is a reward to North Korea,’ said Robert Kelly, a professor at South Korea’s Pusan National University. ‘It extends the prestige of meeting the head of state of the world’s strongest power and leading democracy. That is why we should not do it unless we get a meaningful concession from North Korea. That is why other presidents have not done it.’ If the summit fails, the cost could be higher than in the past, observers noted, with North Korea firmly in possession of a nuclear arsenal and Trump having said military strikes may be needed to remove those weapons.”
– Josh Smith, David Brunnstrom, “Long sought by North Korea, summit holds risks for Trump administration,” Reuters, Mar. 9, 2017 12:14am