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AP/PA Images

Trump to meet South Korean leader in Washington as Kim Jong Un summit hangs in the balance

Moon Jae-in jets into Washington on a mission to salvage a rare diplomatic opening.

DONALD TRUMP HOLDS a high-stakes meeting with South Korea’s president at the White House today, talks that could decide whether the US president’s much-hyped summit with the North’s leader Kim Jong Un goes ahead.

Moon Jae-in jets into Washington on a mission to salvage a rare diplomatic opening between the US and North Korea that is in trouble almost before it begins.

Trump had agreed to meet the “Supreme Leader” Kim in Singapore on 12 June, but the first-ever US-North Korea summit is now in serious doubt, with both sides expressing reservations.

South Korea — worried about Kim’s weapons testing and Trump’s similar warnings about a looming war — was instrumental in convincing the two Cold War foes to sit down and talk.

Moon sent his own national security advisor to the White House in March, carrying an offer of talks and word that North Korea may be willing to abandon nuclear weapons, an enticing prospect.

Trump surprised his guests, his own aides and the world by summarily accepting the meeting, seeing an opportunity to “do a deal” and avoid military confrontation.

Pyongyang is on the verge of marrying nuclear and missile technology allowing it to hit the continental United States with a nuke, a capability Washington sees as wholly unacceptable.

Since then, there has been a landmark series of intra-Korean meetings, two trips to Pyongyang by Mike Pompeo — first as CIA director then as America’s top diplomat — and three American citizens have been released from the North.

But after several Trumpian victory laps, North Korea’s willingness to denuclearise is now in serious doubt.

Earlier this month, North Korea denounced US demands for “unilateral nuclear abandonment” and cancelled at the last minute a high-level meeting with the South in protest over joint military drills between Seoul and Washington.

?? ??? ??? '??' Korean leaders meet at the border village of Panmunjom last month. PA PA

Trump responded by saying the meeting may or may not take place.

Vice President Mike Pence warned in an interview on Monday night that there was “no question” that Trump would be prepared to walk away from the talks with Kim if it looks like they won’t yield results and that the president was not just after a public relations triumph.

Pence said that both the Clinton and Bush administrations “got played” by North Korea when Washington previously tried to get Pyongyang to denuclearise but the current administration would not make the same mistakes.

“It would be a great mistake for Kim Jong Un to think he could play Donald Trump,” he told Fox News.

‘We’ll see what happens’

Trump also surprised many by offering Kim an upfront security guarantee, allowing him to stay in power, and suggested that Kim’s apparent about-face may have been at the behest of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

“It could very well be that he’s influencing Kim Jong Un,” Trump said, citing a recent meeting between the pair, their second in a month’s time. “We’ll see what happens.”

“The current episode of tension reflects a wide and dangerous expectation gap between the United States and North Korea,” said Eric Gomez of the CATO Institute.

“Denuclearisation is not off the table for the North, but it expects the United States to end the so-called ‘hostile policy’ as a precondition for denuclearisation.”

It is far from clear what that means concretely, but it could include the forced withdrawal of 30,000 US troops from the Korean peninsula.

With just weeks to go and little clarity on what will be discussed or what happens if talks fail, some Korea watchers predict fireworks during Trump’s talks with Moon.

“It increasingly looks like the Moon administration overstated North Korea’s willingness to deal. Moon will probably get an earful over that,” said Robert Kelly of Pusan National University.

Yonhap news agency quoted a Blue House official as saying Moon would “likely tell President Trump what to expect and what not to expect from Kim”.

© AFP 2018 

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    Mute P.J. Nolan
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    May 22nd 2018, 7:52 AM

    Trump is being played.

    51
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    Mute Tom Purcell
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    May 22nd 2018, 9:36 AM

    @DrRexButts: And then getting which “Libya model” it was wrong – the “pay him to get rid of weapons” model, or the “remove all history of him from the face of the earth” model – Bolton talking about one, Trump the other…

    24
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    Mute William Kelly
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    May 22nd 2018, 7:58 AM

    Hope Trump is told to butt out of the Korean peace process, & leave it to themselves to come to terms. China is the real influencer, & the US effort to get in on the act is more likely to disrupt the effort. Trump is desperate to get some good press, but be better to stand aside for now.

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    Mute Dave Hammond
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    May 22nd 2018, 12:26 PM

    @William Kelly: true , but the US ‘getting in on the act” is not as straight forward as it may appear , militarily the US have preferred to have the excuse to keep a miitary presence close to China , do their exercises and have an excuse to keep carriers and stealth bombers etc in the region. Even when Trump started using the troops presence as a potential bargaining chip in trade talks the military were quick to tell him not to conflate the two – the North Korea ‘problem’ is just toothache for China and they will ultimately be the power broker that will influence whatever future North Korea has. They are not going to let the US dictate the story there as any wars or castrophe may lead to refugees fleeing to China border – besides China are big enough super power not adress the problem in that region – but no matter what happens don’t expect the US to withdraw from South Korea anytime soon.

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    Mute alphanautica
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    May 22nd 2018, 8:00 AM

    Trump was tantalizingly close to a denuclearization deal but the main stream media scuppered it by their negative coverage of all his achievements

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    Mute Mel Fitzpatrick
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    May 22nd 2018, 8:05 AM

    @alphanautica: lol, yeah that’s why! Hahahaha

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    Mute B9xiRspG
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    May 22nd 2018, 8:11 AM

    @alphanautica: so the media was behind the war games that caused NK to threaten to pull out?

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    Mute Dotty Dunleary
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    May 22nd 2018, 8:40 AM

    @alphanautica: LOL!

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    Mute Tom Purcell
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    May 22nd 2018, 9:19 AM

    @alphanautica: the trouble with text is that you can’t always tell if was written was meant to be sarcastic/funny.
    Given his lack of actual real achievements, and the fact that the media have had nothing to do with this (Max Thunder might have had more influence) I can only assume you are being sarcastic, if so :-)

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    Mute P.J. Nolan
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    May 22nd 2018, 10:19 AM

    @Tom Purcell:
    I hope, for the sake of his sanity, you’re right. .

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    Mute Liam Byrne
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    May 22nd 2018, 11:57 AM

    @alphanautica: There was never going to be a deal. N. Korea does this stuff on a regular basis. They just wanted some concessions, to maintain the regime and then they’ll go back to their usual bull.

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    Mute John Bart
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    May 22nd 2018, 8:20 AM

    Leave his country defenseless and end up like saddam or Gaddafi ? No chance.

    28
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    Mute Sean Conway
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    May 22nd 2018, 8:31 AM

    @John Bart: NK can see this game. venezuela could have their oil taken from them because they have no protection from the threat of the US.

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    Mute Martello Mulligan
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    May 22nd 2018, 8:19 AM

    The Donny Doofus promotion team is desperate to deflect from all his fails and treasons. Rumour has it they’re so desperate that their latest scheme is to plant stories that Trump was born in Kenya.

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    Mute Utnapishtim
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    May 22nd 2018, 8:29 AM

    Trumigula is making a Horse a Senator later today.

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    Mute Larry Doyle
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    May 22nd 2018, 9:07 AM

    @Utnapishtim: Is that Roy Moore’s horse?

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    Mute Utnapishtim
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    May 22nd 2018, 9:14 AM

    @Larry Doyle: Ja wohl. Both are Deviants.

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    Mute Jimmy jones
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    May 22nd 2018, 8:35 AM

    Trump just needs to be locked up at this stage .

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    Mute Gerry Fallon
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    May 22nd 2018, 8:51 AM

    I actually hope Kim jong un does Not meet this nasty man Trump.
    He DOES NOT deserve to be President of a great country like America.He will NOT make America great again.He should be stood down.
    He’s causing too much controversy.

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    Mute Dotty Dunleary
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    May 22nd 2018, 8:50 AM

    Give Trump the Nobel prize for Buffoonery!

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    Mute Tom Purcell
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    May 22nd 2018, 9:33 AM

    And the same old story again; Kim trying to sound all powerful at home and an equally insecure Trump not helping. At the end of the day, NK is broke, starving, and can no longer expect total Chinese support (economic and political). A workable “solution” which progresses the situation will be found, rice will be delivered to NK, some of their bills will be paid and Kim’s people will think he is a God, while Trump will be convinved the American people see him likewise….and all lived <> ever after…

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    Mute Steven Fitzpatrick
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    May 22nd 2018, 11:42 AM

    So a failed businessman is failing at being a politician. What wudda thunk it.

    8
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