North Korea’s release of three American prisoners is a preliminary victory for President Trump’s pressure campaign, but Trump must still use “great caution” in the broader nuclear negotiations with North Korea, according to top Republican senators.
“We must approach North Korea’s recent overtures and the potential for talks over denuclearization with great caution, and I believe the administration fully understands that and is preparing in the appropriate way,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said Wednesday morning.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is bringing the three captives back to the United States following a trip to Pyongyang to discuss plans for a meeting between Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. They “appear to be in good condition,” according to the White House.
That announcement came almost a year after the release and subsequent death of Otto Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who died after being tortured by his North Korean captors.
“This a testament to the Trump administration’s diplomatic approach which has balanced tough sanctions and united international pressure with openness to a dialogue with the North Korean regime,” said Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Rob Portman, R-Ohio. “This strategy helped create the space for today’s release. It is a shame that this couldn’t have come to fruition in time for Otto Warmbier’s safe release. While long overdue, today’s news is a positive step ahead of the forthcoming talks between the United States and North Korea.”
The North Korea nuclear crisis dominated Trump’s first year in office. North Korea unveiled intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the mainland of the United States and detonated a nuclear bomb. The Trump administration countered with an effort to stiffen international sanctions on the regime and a show of military force in the region. But Trump agreed in March to meet with Kim, who subsequently made the first trip by any North Korean leader to South Korea for preliminary peace talks with President Moon Jae-in.
“In the past, North Korea released Americans from captivity in order to improve the relationship with Washington, and following the recent positive inter-Korean summit, Kim is seeking to maintain momentum for his meeting with Trump,” the Heritage Foundation’s Bruce Klingner, former CIA deputy division chief for the Koreas, said Wednesday. “It seems increasingly likely that Kim will come into the summit with President Trump with a major proposal, perhaps denuclearization in return for a peace treaty and normalization of relations.”
U.S. officials and lawmakers have expressed skepticism about Kim’s reliability in such talks, as the regime reportedly advanced to within months of acquiring the ability to place nuclear weapons on the ICBMs.
“This release is a good step toward achieving a real, lasting peace, but we still have a long way to go,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said Wednesday. “Their imprisonment was a crime, unprovoked and unjustified, the kind of behavior North Korea must cease to rejoin the civilized world. I commend President Trump and Secretary Pompeo for securing their release.”
