by WorldTribune Staff, March 9, 2018
The Trump White House broke from the style of traditional American diplomacy by directly threatening the North Korean communist regime over it nuclear strategic challenge and spotlighting its horrific human rights abuses.
U.S. President Donald Trump in addition to taking a strong stand towards North Korea, has been coordinating “very closely” with South Korea in a major shift from the strategy of his predecessors and one that ultimately paid off, South Korean national security adviser Chung Eui-Yong said.
Trump had vowed he would take “approaches very, very different from past approaches and past presidents,” Chung said on March 8 after his announcement at the White House that Trump has accepted an invitation to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to discuss permanent denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea’s strategy has always been to deal directly with the United States, removing South Korea from any agreement.
“Literally, going back to 1992, the United States has engaged in direct talks at low levels with the North Koreans, and I think that history speaks for itself,” Chung said of Trump.
Asked whether inspections of nuclear facilities in the North would be included in agenda items during the Trump-Kim summit, Chung said “Obviously, verification goes hand in hand with any kind of acceptable deal for the permanent denuclearization of North Korea, and we will settle for nothing less than that outcome. It’s the outcome that the entire world expects, as exemplified under all those UN Security Council resolutions.”
Chung also reaffirmed Trump’s commitment to maintain a “maximum pressure” campaign on the North in order to avoid making the same mistakes that previous governments made in the past.
“If we look at the history of these negotiations that took place under prior administrations, they have often led to the relinquishing of pressure,” Chung said.
“They have often led to concessions being made to North Korea in return for talks. President Trump has been very clear from the beginning that he is not prepared to reward North Korea in exchange for talks.”
The Trump-Kim summit is expected to take place by May.
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