North Korea’s Foreign Ministry hoped that 72-year-old Donald Trump would replace 55-year-old Defense Secretary Mike Pompeo, mainly for telling a Senate Armed Services Subcommittee April 9 that Kim Jong-un was a “tyrant.” North Korean officials took umbrage to Pompeo’s remarks, now asking that he be replaced in the next summit with the Peoples Republic of North Korea [DPRK]. Showing that words matter, at whatever level, Trump found out what happens when you boast of “total exoneration” when Atty. Gen. William Barr gave his four-page summary March 24 of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final report. When the redacted report was delivered to Congress April 18, Mueller specifically said his verdict on obstruction of justice was not an “exoneration.” Now Pompeo’s words about Kim create the latest hitch in attempts to complete a peace treaty and “de-nuclearization” with the DPRK.
North Korea’s state news agency [KCNA] reported that Kwon Jong-gun, head of U.S.-North Korea’s relations at the Foreign Ministry, said the U.S. must deal with the “root cause” of the DPRK’s nuclear program. Pompeo has taken a hard line on DPRK, insisting it disarm first before U.S. ended or relaxed economic sanctions, now crippling the North Korean economy. KCNA announced a nuclear weapons test, something downplayed by Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, saying it was “not a ballistic missile.” Heading into the third summit, State Department officials have their work cut out coming up with some good will gesture needed to move the peace process along. North Korean wants to enter into a peace treaty with the U.S. first before proceeding to discuss disarmament. Testing a “tactical weapon,” Kim put Trump on notice that things could revert again.
Kim refers to Trump as his “friend,” despite differences on how to proceed with the next summit. Trump walked out of Summit 2 in Hanoi, Vietnam Feb. 28, when it became clear Kin would not negotiate on de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. “As long as the North Koreans believe they can flatter or dupe the U.S. president into making important concessions . . . they will resist dealing with less gullible and more demanding U.S. officials,” said David Russel, former top U.S. diplomat for East Asia. Russel can’t possibly think that Trump would ditch Pompeo, someone Trump has given a blank check to run U.S. foreign policy. Trump relies heavily on Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton to determine what’s best for U.S. national security. Kwon warned that if Pompeo played a central role in the next summit, the outcome wouldn’t be good for the U.S. and DPRK.
KCNA gets it wrong suggesting that Pompeo was the one that told Trump to walk about of the Hanoi summit. Kim showed that the DPRK wasn’t ready to make any concessions on nukes and ballistic missiles, until the U.S. ended or dramatically modified its sanctions routine. “I am afraid that, if Pompeo engages in the talks again, the table will be lousy once again and the talks will become strangled,” Kwon said. Showing its acerbic side, KCNA quoted Kwon admonishing Pompeo. “ Therefore, even in the case of possible resumption of the dialogue with the United States, I wish our dialogue counterpart would be not Pompeo but other person who is more careful and mature in communicating with us,” Kwon said. Trump isn’t likely to heed the DPRK’s request for “more careful and mature” negotiating partner, someone capable of placating Kim’s demands for more concessions.
Speaking about the next summit, Joseph Yun, former U.S. representative to the DPRK, said Kim views Pompeo as hard-line conservative, showing great skepticism over recent peace talks. Kim thinks his relationship with Trump would give him the best chance to win concessions with the U.S. Yet Kim doesn’t know the extent to which Trump relies on Pompeo and Bolton to do what’s right for U.S. national security. “Pompeo is not frozen out as long as Trump wants him to do the job, and the North Koreans have to live with that,” said Yun. KCNA’s critique of Pompeo has more to do with posturing before the next summit. Kim wants the U.S. to sign a peace treaty before resuming discussions about disarming the Korean Peninsula. Instead of taking offense to KCNA’s words, the U.S. delegation should pivot away from de-nuking to working on U.S.-DPRK peace treaty.
Before the U.S. returns to the tensions of the past, Trump, Pompeo and Bolton must pivot away from its disarmament demand and to work on a peace treaty to set the DPRK at ease. Instead of calling Kim a “tyrant” publicly, Pompeo would be better served focusing on common ground, to make the next summit more fruitful. “Reckless remarks hurting the dignity our supreme leadership,” Kwon said, referring to Pomeop’s public remarks. Kwon said such rhetoric interferes with forward progress toward both U.S. and DPRK goals. Yun thinks that the Trump and Kim still have the rapport needed to make some real progress at the next summit but only if U.S. officials show some restraint on the public stage. “So far, North Korea has not walked away from the table, but they also have resisted pressure to make substantive progress on the nuclear question,” Yun said, urging both sides to make concessions.
