Republican senators say if President Trump can sit and have a positive opening dialogue with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un next week, that’ll be enough to call it a success.
“I think the fact that meeting is occurring at all is the most surprising thing because I’m not sure any other president, certainly not any other conventional president, would be able to get the leader of North Korea to the table,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “So I don’t expect anything necessarily resolved immediately, but I hope it’s part of a process where we will see resolution of that threat.”
Trump is hoping to discuss denuclearization and human rights during the summit with the rogue state, but how the meeting actually proceeds is anyone’s guess. Past efforts to start a dialogue have fizzled.
Before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Kim over Easter weekend, no top U.S. official had met with a North Korean head of state since Madeleine Albright met with Kim Jong Il at the end of the Bill Clinton presidency.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen. Will there be substantive progress? Will it be optics? Will it be a breakdown once they get there? We don’t know this,” said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. “I think a lot of this is unknown because we really don’t know the leader of North Korea.”
“We have to wait and see,” Shelby said. “I think you have to see what happens day by day and hour by hour.”
Some Republicans are adamant that denuclearization remains not only the overarching goal, but a measuring stick of progress between the two sides. While Pompeo says Kim has indicated that he is “prepared” to denuclearize, some say only the results will count.
“An agreement to denuclearize is important,” said Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., when asked what would constitute progress. “The details of that, how that looks, will obviously take time but we have to make sure Kim Jong Un is committed to the complete verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of North Korea. We need to make sure that there’s no other ulterior motive for this summit and that we have that … commitment in place.”
Even some of Trump’s opponents agree that’s a lot to ask for after just one meeting, and agree that all the first meeting has to be is a stepping stone to future meetings and ultimately, a deal.
“I think we should have modest expectations. Starting a dialogue is the floor and the ceiling,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. “There will be no deal next week and we shouldn’t expect one.”
But Schatz thinks no deal is possible, and Trump is entering what will become a long-term management project.
“I also think it’s important to not set ourselves up for unreasonable expectations,” he said. “North Korea is not going to denuclearize and that shouldn’t be the bar. We’re in a situation where we should be managing this problem and trying to achieve containment.”
