There’s a silver lining to President Trump’s compliments for North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, and his decision to holding the meeting without any verifiable concession from Kim, according to Sen. Marco Rubio.
“[A]fter Trump bent over backwards to be conciliatory, if [Kim Jong Un] does nothing, [international] sanctions will be easier to enforce & increase,” the Florida Republican tweeted.
Trump, who participated in the first face-to-face meeting between an American president and a North Korean tyrant, described Kim as “very talented” and said that “he liked me and I like him.” The effusive rhetoric drew rebukes from across the political spectrum, along with reminders of the Kim regime’s brutality toward their own people.
“[The president] is trying to butter him up to get a good deal,” Rubio, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate’s intelligence panel also tweeted.
But some North Korea experts think it will be difficult to maintain the sanctions, especially given China’s traditional resistance to full implementation of the measures.
“Now, with all this diplomacy and summitry, China is now already showing signs that it’s loosening sanctions,” Dr. Sue Mi Terry, a former CIA official at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Washington Examiner last week. “The political will that we had gathered to do this last year is not the same right now.”
The maintenance of sanctions will be a critical part of ensuring that North Korea follows through on its latest pledge to denuclearize, Trump said.
“The sanctions will come off when we are sure that the nukes are no longer a factor,” he told reporters. “Sanctions played a big role, but they’ll come off at that point. I hope it’s going to be soon, but they’ll come off. As you know, and as I’ve said, the sanctions right now remain. But at a certain point, I actually look forward to taking them off.”
In the meantime, Trump went so far as to praise Kim in a message directed to the North Korean people, when Greta Van Susteren, who was conducting an interview for Voice of America that “will be heard in North Korea,” asked what he wanted the North Koreans to know.
“Well, I think you have somebody that has a great feeling for them. He wants to do right by them and we got along really well,” he replied. “We had a great chemistry — you understand how I feel about chemistry. It’s very important. I mean, I know people where there is no chemistry no matter what you do you just don’t have it. We had it right from the beginning, I talked about that and I think great things are going to happen for North Korea.”
Another leading Republican also gave Trump cover for meeting with Kim.
“Once North Korea had nuclear weapons, once they have missiles that can deliver them to use, I would liken it to past presidents sitting down with Soviet dictators,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., told conservative talk radio host Hugh Hewitt. “It’s not something that we should celebrate. It’s not a pretty sight. But it’s a necessary part of the job to try to protect Americans from a terrible threat.”
