6/7/2018

NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “When President Donald Trump sits down on Tuesday [6-12-18] with Kim Jong Un, his top priority will be wresting a firm commitment that the North Korean leader is finally prepared to give up his nuclear weapons program in exchange for security guarantees. And that may be the easy part. Even if Mr. Trump gets that assurance, it will be just the start of an intricate process. U.S. officials need to obtain a list of all of North Korea’s nuclear assets, nail down verification arrangements in a country that has resisted intrusive monitoring and settle on a speedy schedule for dismantling Pyongyang’s arsenal. All this must take place as Washington and Pyongyang try to build trust after more than 60 years of often acrimonious confrontation. Former negotiators say the lower-level talks and future summits that are expected to follow will be full of potential pitfalls. But U.S. officials also have the lessons of several rounds of failed negotiations to draw on.”

-Michael R. Gordon, Jessica Donati and Jonathan Cheng, “For Trump’s North Korea Summit, Abundant Lessons From Past Talks,” The Wall Street Journal, June 7, 2018 2:38 pm