Day 482: Let’s maybe pump the brakes on a Donald Trump Nobel Peace Prize for a bit
What has Trump actually accomplished regarding North Korea? Not much yet.
In March, Donald Trump abruptly and surprisingly agreed to a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and put no preconditions on the sit-down.
New Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has visited the reclusive nation twice since the meeting was announced. Three American prisoners were released as well, something that was accomplished by Barack Obama on a few occasions.
And that’s about it for Trump’s involvement thus far.
Those actions — agreeing to a meeting, sending his secretary of state and helping to free three prisoners — have caused many on the right to proclaim that Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize right now.
Seven Republican governors signed a letter in support of Trump’s quest for the prize, praising Trump’s “unprecedented victory for global peace and security,” and adding that his “firm stance against nuclearization, coupled with his willingness to engage one-on-one with Pyongyang, has succeeded in opening new avenues of cooperation, friendship and unity between the two Koreas — and the rest of the world.” The governors join 18 House Republicans who formally nominated Trump for the prize.
Trump — in classic Trumpian prose — said of him deserving the award, “Everyone thinks so, but I would never say it.”
Despite relatively little having been accomplished, the meeting was in danger of being pulled off the table Tuesday. The North Koreans abruptly threatened to yank the meet if the U.S. is expecting complete denuclearization.
North Korea on Wednesday injected further uncertainty into plans for a highly anticipated summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump.
In a statement carried by state news agency KCNA that was widely reported and translated by media outlets, North Korea’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Kye Gwan said his country will reconsider the historic June 12 meeting if the U.S. insists on Pyongyang relinquishing its nuclear weapons.
North Korea went so far as to call out new National Security Advisor and warmonger John Bolton.
Recent “unbridled remarks” from Washington prior to the June 12 meeting constituted signs of “reckless” behavior, Kim Kye Gwan stated.
Specifically naming National Security Advisor John Bolton, the North Korean minister said U.S. officials are “letting loose the assertions of so-called Libya mode of nuclear abandonment” and discussing a formula of “abandoning nuclear weapons first [and] compensating afterwards.”
That amounts to “awfully sinister” moves to impose on North Korea “the destiny of Libya or Iraq, which had been collapsed due to yielding the whole of their countries to big powers,” the minister said, stressing that Pyongyang rejects Libya-style denuclearization.
North Korea has historically been unreliable in their promises. No one is sure about their motivations or goals for a sit down, largely because Trump agreed to a meeting without any framework of what such a meeting would include.
On one hand, there are reports that their nuclear test sites have been shut down. On another, it appears those same sites were heavily damaged during previous tests and are likely already non-functioning. Either way, North Korea is a nuclear power, so dealing with that reality is a serious and present concern.
The mere possibility of an agreement has caused many to endlessly praise Trump, and there is a real fear among some that Trump will agree to any deal, simply to claim an international victory. The North Koreans are already engaging in psychological games, saying that Trump “will be recorded as more tragic and unsuccessful president than his predecessors” if he makes missteps and is unable to make a deal. Playing to Trump’s ego, the North Koreans are goading Trump into making any pact and forcing him make the first concessions as a pretext for a sit down.
Maybe the car carrying the Nobel should slow down for a bit.
482 days in, 980 to go
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