Kim Jong-un is doing everything in his capacity not to surrender to U.S. President Donald Trump.
Though he promised he will give up North Korea’s nuclear weapons, Brookings Insitute said the North Korean leader will not surrender the country’s nuclear weapons to the U.S.
As reported by Page 1 earlier in whose end-game it is going to be, Trump will have to prepare either to agree to a long negotiating process that will play into Kim’s hands or walk away from the table empty-handed.
Evans Revers wrote in Newsweek that Kim will eventually gain from the meeting with Trump, adding that faced with the options of long negotiations or leaving the talks empty-handed, Trump might be prudent in pressing the ‘pause’ button.
Last week, Kim made the first mention of the U.S. talks as reported by the BBC. The report said Kim mentioned Trump’s agreeing to meet him.
Kim mentioned the “prospect” of dialogue between North Korea and the US at a meeting of party officials.
Details of the proposed meeting, including timing, remain unclear.
But what is certain is that Kim bound to use this opportunity for propaganda purposes.
According to state news agency KCNA, the North Korean leader discussed the “development of the North-South relations at present and the prospect of the [North Korea]-US dialogue”.
Mentioning ties with South Korea, the Northern leader mentioned the ties that his country is building with the South.
For the first time on April 10, Kim discussed the recent situation on the Korean Peninsula, including details about his planned summit with President Moon Jae-in on April 27.
It is through a thaw in the relations between the South and the North that has brought about the idea of a meeting between Trump and Kim.
Nevertheless, the North is still working its way out of sanctions.
The Chosun Ilbo said commercial satellite imagery shows a new open-air coal storage yard at Nampo port in North Korea, as well as piles of coal in a nearby area and a large ship loaded with coal.
The report came from Voice of America, saying the North seems to be preparing to export the coal to China amid a recent thaw in bilateral relations, even though that is banned under UN Security Council sanctions.
Resuming exportation of coal to China is one way the North Korean leader is upstaging Trump ahead of the meeting between both leaders.
It will force the Americans to put these issues on the table though they will not relegate the nuclear bombs topic, a topic that is dear to Trump.