(Newswire.net— May 26, 2018) — After US President Donald Trump canceled his meeting with N. Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, and pulled out of the Iran Nuclear deal, chances for setting up a next meeting are slim to none.
The White House stated that the US is hoping there is a chance for a new meeting but they are continuing to pressure Pyongyang even harder.
This may be a classical Trump maneuver to demonstrate who is pulling all the strings, which is often used in business negotiations. The purpose of the maneuver is to gain psychological leverage by demonstrating that one who has the power to cancel a meeting and then set up another is the one in control, playing the tune. However, North Koreans do not dance. This move damages the US more than N. Korea, according to analysts.
Criticizing Trump’s tactics on peace talks, a Senior Fellow at the US-Korea institute at SAIS and a Senior Research Fellow at Columbia University Weatherhead Institute for East Asian Studies Joel Witt said that Trump is wrong in choosing to demonstrate force. According to Witt, the US President acts as if he “sells real-estate in New York,” but, Koreans are not buying.
North Korea is well prepared to survive the sanctions, so this type of pressure is futile, said Witt. In addition, the move could weaken US ties with China and Japan, its strongest allies in the N. Korean Peace Talks. The White House said Trump cancelled the meeting scheduled for Jun 12, only after US allies learned it from media reports.
Donald trump allegedly left a small window of opportunity to set up another date for the meeting, but he combined the opened hand for negotiations with praising the “massive” nuclear arsenal aimed at N. Korea.
Russian president Vladimir Putin said Trump missed the historical chance to demonstrate a will to resolve the decades long conflict. Chinese and South Korean presidents have already met with Kim Jong-Un and these talks resulted in N. Korea destroying some nuclear tests sites. In exchange, it is certain that the N. Korean leader secured survival of the US imposed sanctions.
If N. Korea plays its next move wisely, it would result in Russian, Chinese and S. Korean financial support and investments which directly contradict the US sanctions. In September, Donald Trump will be preoccupied with the preparations for pre election year so the chance of cancelation for peace talks with N. Korea is going to hurt only Trump.
North Korea still hopes the talks will take place, First Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said. He added that N. Korea is willing to “sit down face-to-face with the US whenever and in any way”, according to a released statement.
According to Kim, the summit cancellation “is not a decision in line with the wishes of those who hope for peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and in the world,” as the North Korean state news agency KCNA reported.
Now that North Korea has clearly shown that it can cooperate and sit down at the table, the US cancellation makes N. Korea’s alleged commitment to peace even more credible. It comes at a time when Trump distanced himself from the summit while North Korea showed good will, additionally Trump didn’t get support for maximum pressure, analysts say. So, now he speaks about chances to meet with Kim as scheduled.
“We’re doing very well in terms of the summit with North Korea,” Trump said at the White House. “It’s moving along very nicely. So we’re looking at June 12th in Singapore. That hasn’t changed.”
On Thursday, Trump canceled the long-anticipated summit, accusing North Korea of “tremendous anger and open hostility” in an official letter to Kim Jong-un. Then on Friday, Trump said “everybody plays games” and hinted that the summit might happen after all. Now, Trump appears to indicate the talks might happen as planned.
No one is really sure what “the game” that Trump speaks about exactly is, but it is up to Kim Jong-Un to now say if he wishes to meet Donald Trump.
“So, we’ll see what happens.” Trump said.