The announcement March 8 that President Donald Trump will meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has already met with a wide variety of opinions and pontifications. Although details are up in the air as far as the “when” and “where” of this first-ever meeting, late night and early morning reaction was in high gear. This is by no means even most of the reaction, but it’s a quick look at how some reacted to the president’s announcement:
“The North Koreans are coming to the table despite the United States making zero concessions and, in close coordination with our allies, we have consistently increased the pressure on the Kim regime. Our resolve is undeterred and our policy remains the same: all sanctions remain in place and the maximum pressure campaign will continue until North Korea takes concrete, permanent, and verifiable steps to end their nuclear program.”
— Vice President Mike Pence in a March 9 statement.
“While U.S. policy toward North Korea has failed for decades, it is clear that a series of sanctions recently put in place by Congress and the administration are having a real impact. … As the administration begins to work through the important details of such a meeting, we must continue to apply maximum pressure to the regime in Pyongyang. Skepticism and caution are critical as these discussions continue.”
— Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, in a March 8 statement.
“If President Trump is going to meet w/ Kim Jong Un, we must make sure there’s a clear advancement of US interests. The administration must be strategic enough to wield leverage w/ #NorthKorea & engage in clear-eyed, constructive diplomacy towards a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.”
— Sen. Bob Mendendez (D-N.J.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations via Twitter.
“After numerous discussions with President Trump, I firmly believe his strong stand against North Korea and its nuclear aggression gives us the best hope in decades to resolve this threat peacefully,” according to a statement released March 8. “A word of warning to North Korean President Kim Jong Un — the worst possible thing you can do is meet with President Trump in person and try to play—him. If you do that, it will be the end of you — and your regime.”
— Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) in a March 8 statement.
“Very, very smart of Pyongyang, but also very perilous … for the United States and for South Korea and the interests of all democracies and allies in the region, because it’s a pattern. … [It] means that the sanctions that the Trump administration has imposed are working, and now the North wants to come to the table, buy time to keep developing their weapons of mass destruction, and try to get sanctions eased. It’s a terrible cycle; we’ve seen it before; and it’s a very, very dangerous cycle.”
—Mary Kissell, Wall St. Journal Editorial Board on The John Batchelor Show.
“This is stunning: President Trump has accepted an invitation from Kim Jong-un for a summit. It’s also, I think, a dangerous gamble and a bad idea. I can’t believe I’m saying that. For many years, over several trips to North Korea, I’ve argued for direct talks between the United States and North Korea, and it’s certainly better to be engaging the North than bombing it. If the choice is talk versus missiles, I’ll go with the talk. … Frankly, another concern about a Trump-Kim summit is that our president will impetuously agree to some harebrained scheme to get a deal. (“Withdraw U.S. troops from South Korea and from Okinawa? No problem, if you’ll build a wall for me.”).
—Nicholas Kristof, Op-ed Column in The New York Times.
“He is the most unpredictable American leader in living memory. Just maybe that inability of the regime to read him has unsettled the North enough they don’t want to risk the possibility he could be serious about a military confrontation — one they surely must know they would lose. Is this the flowering of peace? Certainly not, but the optimist that still flickers within would like to believe this most intractable of conflicts could, one day, be solved. And if so, maybe it takes a maverick like Mr. Trump to do it.”
—Philip Williams, chief foreign correspondent, Agence France-Presse.
© 2018 Homeland411