Promises, Nuclear Promises - WSJ editorial

Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un both received what they most wanted from their one-day summit in Singapore on Tuesday: Images of the two men shaking hands, talking across the table and getting along famously. Whether this photo-op summitry achieved anything beyond the bonhomie is a lot less clear.

In Mr. Trump’s telling, his willingness to engage in personal diplomacy has persuaded the young Kim to abandon the nuclear-weapons program that he and his forbears have spent decades building. Mr. Trump gave Kim the legitimacy of equal billing on the world stage, but the risk was worth the gamble and has paid off in an historic change of heart.

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Yet everything hangs on those details, not on the promises, which North Korea has made and reneged on many times. And there is little in the joint communique or in North Korean statements to demonstrate that Kim has committed to do what Mr. Trump claims.

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The danger for Mr. Trump is that he is now committed to the same open-ended negotiating process that trapped his predecessors. The President claimed at his press conference that Kim had vowed to dismantle a missile site, but that may be the same site the North is already dismantling.

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If the past is a guide, all of this will be subject to painful and perhaps endless negotiation, and the North will insist on concessions from the U.S. at every stage. Having committed to talks, Mr. Trump will be under pressure to make more concessions lest Kim walk away.

Mr. Trump made the first large and unilateral concession Tuesday when he cancelled what he called U.S.-South Korean “war games.” The exercises are a North Korean bugbear, and Mr. Trump even adopted the North’s language in calling them “very provocative.” But their vital purpose is to maintain readiness in case of an attack from the North, and his announcement startled U.S. allies. Restarting the exercises is possible, but the price could be an end to the talks.

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Perhaps guaranteeing Kim’s survival in power is necessary to eliminate his nuclear threat to the U.S. mainland. But there is no excuse for a nuclear deal that doesn’t entirely eliminate the program—with on-demand inspections everywhere. This is what Mr. Trump is insisting for Iran, and he can’t adopt a lesser standard on North Korea.

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/promises-nuclear-promises-1528836251 (paid subscription)