In a Tweet from Singapore in the lead up to his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump lashed out at his critics and claimed that the meeting would be a major success.
"The fact that I am having a meeting is a major loss for the U.S., say the haters & losers. We have our hostages, testing, research and all missle [sic] launches have stoped [sic], and these pundits, who have called me wrong from the beginning, have nothing else they can say! We will be fine!" Trump wrote Monday.
The fact that I am having a meeting is a major loss for the U.S., say the haters & losers. We have our hostages, testing, research and all missle launches have stoped, and these pundits, who have called me wrong from the beginning, have nothing else they can say! We will be fine!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2018
The president is preparing to meet with North Korea's leader to discuss the country's nuclear weapons program and how to promote peace on the Korean peninsula. Some have criticized Trump for holding the meeting, claiming that he is giving legitimacy to a murderous dictator and that he agreed to a meeting before North Korea gave any real concessions.
Even people who have praised the decision to meet with Kim have said that the president and his team are woefully unprepared for the long diplomatic process that is yet to come, while others claim that Trump's optimism is also premature.
"You have to respect the fact that President Trump is willing to take a big risk—and even take on some short-term political pain to try and get a nuclear deal with North Korea," Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest in Washington, D.C., told Newsweek. "However, history prepares us well for the fact that Kim Jong Un will never—ever—give up his atomic arms. Even if there is a deal, Pyongyang will never adhere to the terms or cheat or make up some excuse to get out of it. That is just reality."
Pyongyang does appear willing to make some compromises, however. The Kim regime has said that it may be willing to tolerate the presence of U.S. troops in South Korea, a significant departure from its previous stance on the issue. And as Trump mentioned in his tweet, the country already released several U.S. hostages prior to the meeting.
Nevertheless, analysts say that a long diplomatic process will be needed to achieve peace on the peninsula, and Trump's tweets could get in the way of that.
"Any denuclearization must fully reject nuclear weapons and use existing international frameworks to ensure long-term success that would withstand any future changes. If not, a bilateral agreement, or even one involving multiple states, could unravel if a government shifts policy, or if a leader gets cold feet or takes offense at a Tweet," Akira Kawasaki, a member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, said in a statement.
