SUMMARY: Six months after a landmark summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un seemed to keep the two nations from the precipice of war, Kim says North Korea won't make, test or give away nuclear weapons -- plus he's ready to meet Trump again. Victor Cha of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Jenny Town of online policy journal 38 North discuss with Amna Nawaz.
SUMMARY: At the annual United Nations General Assembly, President Trump met Monday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to talk about trade and the auto industry, as well as diplomatic outreach to North Korea. Nick Schifrin joins Judy Woodruff to discuss what they said, and what to expect from the rest of the week.
SUMMARY:A new joint agreement signed by leaders of North and South Korea marked their most significant progress toward peace to date. Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in pledged a "new era," with Kim agreeing to dismantle his main missile testing site, as well as his main nuclear weapons complex -- with conditions. Yamiche Alcindor talks with Bruce Klingner of the Heritage Foundation and Jenny Town of 38 North.
Trump gives Kim recognition and no more joint military exercises with South Korea, and Kim promises nothing (no verifiable, complete nuclear disarmament) in return. This was a Trump ego trip.
SUMMARY: Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un met for the first time at a resort off Singapore's coast, the first time a U.S. President has been face-to-face with a leader of North Korea. Nick Schifrin joins Judy Woodruff from on the ground in Singapore.
SUMMARY: In Singapore, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered optimism that a Tuesday summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would set conditions "for future, productive talks." Nick Schifrin joins Judy Woodruff from on the ground in Singapore to offer a preview of the meeting and what’s at stake.
SUMMARY: The road to Tuesday's summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore has been long and dangerous, littered with fraught diplomacy, broken agreements, and threats of war. Nick Schifrin looks back at how we got here.
SUMMARY: President Trump and Kim Jong Un held a whirlwind summit in Singapore and set lofty goals, but provided few details on how to achieve them. From Singapore, Nick Schifrin joins Judy Woodruff to outline the agreement and discuss whether each side got what they wanted.
SUMMARY: President Trump deserves credit for turning relations with North Korea around, says Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) but more work needs to be done and more nuance is needed on the issue of the future of military exercises with South Korea. Risch joins Judy Woodruff to discuss first steps in North Korea diplomacy, the issue of human rights, plus Trump pulling the U.S. out of the G-7 joint communique.
SUMMARY: Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md) says that he's pleased that President Trump used diplomacy to meet face-to-face with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but now it's necessary to see North Korea implement changes to show it's serious about eliminating its nuclear weapons program. Cardin joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the issue of human rights and Trump’s controversial treatment of allies at the G-7.
SUMMARY: The pace of diplomacy with North Korea picked up over the weekend in an effort to revive the summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. What goes into the preparation for such a moment and can the meeting be resurrected in time? Nick Schifrin talks with Patrick McEachern of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
IMHO: Only IF Trump's ego, and lack of real preparation, does not end up with a bad deal just to allow him to boast.
Excerpt
SUMMARY: America's top diplomat and North Korea's top envoy began Thursday with a historic handshake. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said their talks were positive but sometimes difficult and that their teams made quick headway in setting the right conditions for a summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un. Nick Schifrin and Yamiche Alcindor talk with Judy Woodruff.
SUMMARY: A sitting U.S. President and senior North Korean envoy in the Oval Office? That's a scene that hasn't happened in almost 20 years. President Trump relaunched the summit he canceled only a week ago, signaling a shift in the administration's willingness to make denuclearization a staged process. Nick Schifrin reports.
COMMENT: This situation reminds me of something, the Cuban Missile Crisis. Nuclear Weapons that could target the U.S. that leads to a pledge that the U.S. will not invade Cuba. Did Kim Jong-un out diplomacy us.
Excerpt
SUMMARY: Days after a historic summit, there are signs of progress from both North and South Korea. Pyongyang announced it will re-sync its time zone with South Korea's starting Saturday, while the South said it will remove the loudspeakers that blast propaganda into the North. John Yang reports on the first steps both sides seem to be taking, and what U.S. officials are saying about the American role.
SUMMARY: Syndicated columnists Mark Shields and Mona Charen join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s news, including the historic summit between the leaders of North Korea and South Korea, French President Emmanuel Macron’s state visit, Dr. Ronny Jackson’s decision to withdraw as the Veterans Affairs nominee, and controversy surrounding Mick Mulvaney’s comments about lobbyists.
Judy Woodruff (NewsHour): This week in Washington has been consumed by talks of deals, a possible peace deal for the Korean Peninsula, and discussions with European leaders about the Iran nuclear deal.
That brings us to the analysis of Shields and Charen. That is syndicated columnist Mark Shields and syndicated columnist Mona Charen. David Brooks is away.
And we welcome both of you here on this Friday.
So, we have had this backdrop of a cliffhanger of a relationship between the United States and North Korea. Mark, a lot of tough language shared. But then, this week, we see this remarkable yesterday coming together — early this morning, coming together at the border, the North and South Korean leader.
How do you read this, and how do you see President Trump’s role in it?
Mark Shields, syndicated columnist: I read it quite superficially, because, unlike our earlier scholars and analysts, I’m not an authority on Korean politics.
But just looking at it politically, it’s a dramatic improvement. Just a few months ago, we were talking about the possibility of a million people being killed on the Korean Peninsula in a war which people feared in some cases was only weeks away.
And here we are talking about blood relatives reaching across the 38th Parallel, reconnecting, reconciliation between North and South, ending formally 65 years of war between the two.
And so you ask about President Trump. You know, I think you have to say that, while his unorthodoxy, his inflammatory rhetoric, his unpredictability has been in many cases an impediment to thoughtful and positive relations, actually, here it may have worked. It may be working.
This is a positive development, an encouraging development. It’s not the resolution, but I think this is one case where Donald Trump’s style may have worked for positive results.
Judy Woodruff: And we will see what happens, Mona, but at this point, what do you see?
Mona Charen, syndicated columnist: Well, the optics, as we would put it in Washington, were terrific, stepping across the barrier, both of them and so forth, and making a lot of promises.
But I think skepticism, deep skepticism is in order. Look, what does Kim Jong-un want? He wants to remain in power. Nuclear weapons are the key to — they’re his insurance policy. And he has devoted tremendous effort and tremendous expense to obtain them.
The idea that he would now wake up one morning and say, you know, forget all that, I actually want to live in peace and I want to denuclearize. And, by the way, as your previous guests said, a lot of dispute about what that means to the two different parties.
But we have seen over the years the North Koreans. The Kim family has made promises, has made overtures, have promised even to give up their quest for nuclear weapons. And they have never done it. They constantly renege.
So, I’m deeply skeptical that anything has really changed, except the optics.
Judy Woodruff: And so meantime, Mark, the nuclear deal that exists now between Iran and several other countries, including the U.S., President Trump keeps saying that he doesn’t like it, and there is every indication he’s going to pull out.
He’s met this week with the leader of — President of France, Emmanuel Macron, then just today with Chancellor Merkel of Germany. Does it look like the President is going to go through with this deal, and how do you see the President as diplomat this week?
Mark Shields:Well, just to respond to Mona’s point, all of that is true, the history of relations between North Korea and the rest of the world, the six-nation parlance, under four different American Presidents.
This is different. This raising the stakes by the part of the President himself.
Judy Woodruff: In Korea?
Mark Shields: In Korea.
And the reality — the reality is, Judy, that the per capita income in North Korea is $1,800. And it’s $33,200 in South Korea. And I think there is pressure there. I’m not saying that he’s the avenging angel of piece.
As far as keeping the word, and being trust and verify and skeptical, all of a sudden, the shoe is on the other foot. Are we — is our word reliable?
Judy Woodruff: With regard to the Iran…
(CROSSTALK)
Mark Shields: Iran. Are we going to keep our promise made just three short years ago? Are we going to pull out?
And right now, I think you would have to say the betting is that that’s what the President is going to do. As far as President Macron’s visit this week, I think, besides the heavy necking and the light petting that we saw in public between these two grown and married men in our liberalized area here, I don’t think there’s any question that he absolutely dazzled, and for home consumption and playing to positive reviews in Paris before the Congress.
And his message was unalloyed and direct and candid to the President about isolationism and its costs.
Judy Woodruff: A direct message to the Congress from Emmanuel Macron, Mona, but it doesn’t appear to have changed the President’s mind when it comes to this Iran nuclear deal.
Mona Charen: Yes.
It’s hard to understand the position that we should tear up the Iran deal. As somebody who was deeply opposed to the original deal, it just strikes me that once you have given away all the money, which is what we did — we gave them back their $100 million — we have lost all of our negotiating leverage.
How is it that we are going to get the Iranians to give up something more, when we have already given them what they were after? It seems to me that we don’t have the leverage we think we do with this — with the Iran deal.
Regarding Macron, I think he did the star turn this week. He rally did, because he managed Trump. He flattered him. He got along with Trump and all of that, which isn’t the easiest thing to do. And then, when he spoke to Congress, he sounded like the leader of the Western world.
He was talking about the importance of our obligations and freedom and that we shouldn’t retreat into nationalism and protectionism. I thought it was a real star turn. And I thought he did himself a lot of good.
Mark Shields:Let me just agree that I hadn’t heard a President with such command of the English language speak to Congress since Barack Obama.
(LAUGHTER)
Mark Shields: And I just — I was very impressed by Macron’s performance.
SUMMARY:Kim Jong Un became the first North Korean leader to set foot in South Korea since the Korean War 65 years ago. The official talks focused heavily on North Korea's nuclear weapons program. President Moon Jae-in said that he and Kim shared the goal of ridding “the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons through complete denuclearization." Judy Woodruff reports.
SUMMARY: The meeting between the leaders of the two Koreas along the heavily fortified border marked a day of diplomacy after months of war talk. Judy Woodruff talks to former State Department official Frank Jannuzi, and Victor Cha of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, about the significance of the meeting and how it sets up the summit between Kim Jong Un and President Trump.
SUMMARY: The leaders of China and North Korea held an unofficial summit this week, waiting until Wednesday to announce it to the world. Kim Jong Un and Xi Jinping came face-to-face for the first time in Beijing, Kim first venture abroad since he became North Korea's supreme leader in 2011. Judy Woodruff reports on how both countries have characterized the visit.
SUMMARY: Why did North Korean leader Kim Jong Un go to China, and what impact will that visit have on its nuclear standoff with the U.S.? Judy Woodruff gets two views from Michael Pillsbury an adviser to the Trump administration, and Michael Green a former National Security Council staff member.
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha talks like a real, professional, diplomat.
Excerpt
SUMMARY: In an exclusive interview, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha tells Judy Woodruff that they are cautiously optimistic that possible talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Trump would be a breakthrough for a peaceful resolution. They also discuss President Trump's recent threats to pull American troops if the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement [KORUS FTA] is not improved, and more.
I am Retired U.S. Navy (22yrs) and a Vietnam Veteran. After my Navy retirement I was in the computer related industry, now retired. In 2000 I was a registered Republican and voted for George W. Bush. Six months of having Bush in the Whitehouse forced me to re-evaluate my political stance. I had always thought of myself as a Moderate Republican, but was a Republican by "default" NOT because of close examination of the GOP. Due to what has happened in America since 2000, I now consider myself a progressive, and registered as a Non-Affiliated voter.
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