‘He will fail’ Trump has NO chance of stopping North Korea nuclear weapons
DONALD Trump’s chances of successfully persuading North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to give up his nuclear weapons are “very low”, an expert has warned.
By CIARAN MCGRATH
Express.co.uk
Sat, Mar 24, 2018
Mr Trump is believed to be ready to travel to the Korean peninsular in May for talks in the village of Panmunjom, in the demilitarised zone which acts as a buffer zone between North and South Korea – although no details have yet been confirmed by the White House.
However, writing for North Korea watchdog 38 North, Pennsylvania State University Professor Joseph DeThomas was downbeat on his assessment of the chances of North Korea agreeing to “denuclearise”.
And he cautioned against squeezing too hard by turning up the heat with more economic sanctions in advance of the visit, which he warned could backfire and derail the summit before it had even begun.
Mr DeThomas, who is also a former US Ambassador to Estonia, said: “Achieving the Trump administration’s stated goal for this summit, the complete denuclearisation of North Korea, has a very low probability of success. Misplaying our sanctions leverage will guarantee either no summit or a failed one.”
He said negotiators needed to find a balance between acknowledging the success sanctions had had two far, and overplaying their hand in the days leading up to Mr Trump’s proposed visit.
He said: “While a number of factors may have played a role in prompting Kim Jong Un during his New Year’s speech to make the opening gambit of his peace offensive—such as US sabre-rattling, rapid progress in the North’s ICBM program, the change in the ROK administration, and preexisting DPRK strategic and economic plans—there is a strong probability that strengthened UN sanctions gave Kim’s decision urgency.
“Sanctions are having a significant impact on North Korea. This is particularly apparent in the area of Sino-North Korean Trade.
“Since Chinese trade accounts for 93 percent of North Korean exports and 88 percent of its imports, the China trade numbers are decisive for determining sanctions impact.
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