Maryland Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin said he is “very much encouraged” by President Trump’s efforts with North Korea.
“We need a diplomatic solution. We’re all rooting for a diplomatic solution,” Cardin told CNN on Monday. “I applaud the president of South Korea for using the Olympics to start this process going. I am very much encouraged by President Trump and sending at that time the director of the CIA, Mr. Pompeo.”
Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin: “I am very much encouraged” by President Trump’s diplomatic efforts with North Korea https://t.co/nDPwoBZWcu pic.twitter.com/GrayGNQPWc
— New Day (@NewDay) April 30, 2018
Cardin was referencing a trip Mike Pompeo, now the secretary of state, took to North Korea over Easter weekend. Pompeo met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during the trip, and the White House last week shared photos of the two shaking hands.
Trump is expected to meet with Kim for a historic summit in either May or June, and on Monday morning, the president pitched the Demilitarized Zone on the border between North and South Korea as a possible site for the meeting.
Trump’s meeting will follow last week’s historic meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The two met in the Demilitarized Zone as Kim became the first North Korean leader to touch South Korean soil in 65 years.
Moon said the two leaders committed to ending the Korean War and signing a peace treaty.
A joint statement from the two Koreas following the summit said the nations are committed to achieving a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.
The negotiations between the U.S., South Korea and North Korea have earned Trump praise, and some Republicans on Capitol Hill and even Moon are floating the president as a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize because of the breakthrough in relations.
Cardin, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Trump “absolutely” deserves credit for promoting diplomacy over military action, saying it’s “the only way we can work.”
“We are one team, our team, the United States,” he said. “We need to calm things on the Korea Peninsula. We need to denuclearize ultimately. But right now, a freeze, getting inspectors in, that’s a big victory for diplomacy.”
