NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “It was a quick but telling exchange. At a House committee hearing earlier this month, Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas was grilling Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the Trump administration’s plans for North Korea…’Will you leave them with a civilian nuclear program?’ Castro asked. After a long pause, Pompeo replied that ‘we have said that it won’t be appropriate for them to have the capacity to enrich.’ But he quickly modified his answer. ‘I can’t answer that question,’ Pompeo admitted…The back-and-forth, which took place May 23, illustrated a major challenge for the United States as President Donald Trump prepares for a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un: Trump and his top advisers don’t seem to know what they want to get out of it…Some confusion over the administration’s position is inevitable, given the complexity of the issues, the short amount of time for planning since Trump agreed in March to meet with Kim, and the newness of Bolton and Pompeo to their jobs (both started only a few weeks ago). But the incoherence has flustered members of Congress as well as America’s Asian allies, who worry that without clearly defined objectives the talks will fall apart and embolden an already dangerous North Korea.”
-Nahal Toosi, “Trump team doesn’t know what it wants from North Korea,” Politico, May 31, 2018 5:09 am