Radio Recap: President Trump Lands in Vietnam for North Korea Summit

“Make haste, slowly.”

We are witnessing a historic moment, as a new day of diplomacy with North Korea dawns, but it’s likely that sun will not rise quickly.

Today on the show we discussed President Trump’s arrival in Vietnam for a second nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The President tweeted that he sees an optimistic outcome for North Korea if Kim Jong Un is willing to work with the United States:

Chairman Kim realizes, perhaps better than anyone else, that without nuclear weapons, his country could fast become one of the great economic powers anywhere in the World. Because of its location and people (and him), it has more potential for rapid growth than any other nation!

However the process will not happen quickly. Progress with North Korea is more likely to come in stages.

If there’s a peace declaration recognized by both North and South Korea, that would be a great first step, since they’ve been in the status of armistice – meaning the war is not officially over – since the 1950’s.

We must remain cautious when dealing with North Korea. True peace with this government will not come overnight.

We will need to see verifiable evidence that North Korea has made actual progress in its efforts to denuclearize. Then we would also need proof that it has taken steps to improve living and working conditions for its citizens. North Korea’s people are suffering. Most don’t have electricity. We need to see a real increase in humanitarian efforts.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo summed it up this weekend during an interview:

We know the history of the North Koreans making promises, making commitments, lying, taking American money when President Clinton said we’ve got this resolved back in 1994. This administration is not going to do that. We have charted a different path.

Frankly, we’ve been criticized for taking that path, where we work, we negotiate, and then the two people who can actually effectuate the denuclearization of North Korea and a brighter future for the North Korean people will gather for a second time. We have economic sanctions in place. We know the standard for relieving those sanctions. And I am very hopeful that we’ll make a substantial step towards achieving the full denuclearization in a verifiable way in North Korea.

As I asked our radio audience, how important is it to you that President Trump continues to negotiate with Kim Jong Un towards achieving a denuclearized North Korea?

You can listen to the entire episode here.