President Donald Trump is weary the talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would play into the hands of the dictator.
On Wednesday Trump said that although he’s looking ahead optimistically to a historic summit with Kim, he could still pull out if he feels it’s “not going to be fruitful.”
Trump’s expectations are that Kim will be tamed during the meeting and would easily surrender to the White House’s terms on surrendering the nuclear weapons to the U.S.
Taking the talks seriously, Trump said the following before:
Possible progress being made in talks with North Korea. For the first time in many years, a serious effort is being made by all parties concerned. The World is watching and waiting! May be false hope, but the U.S. is ready to go hard in either direction!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 6, 2018
But since the CIA Director Mike Pompen met with Kim and “got along really well” Trump has a sudden chill.
Trump suddenly seems to be wary of how the meeting will play out and whose end-game it is anyway.
Trump declared: “We’ve never been in a position like this” to address worldwide concerns over North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
But later on, speaking alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, after the allies met at Trump’s Florida resort, the U.S. President made known his doubts.
Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week. Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed. Details of Summit are being worked out now. Denuclearization will be a great thing for World, but also for North Korea!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 18 avril 2018
He made clear that he’d still be ready to pull the plug on the talks, though he was first to suggest a meeting between him and Kim prior to his electoral campaign.
“If I think that if it’s a meeting that is not going to be fruitful we’re not going to go. If the meeting when I’m there is not fruitful I will respectfully leave the meeting,” Trump told a news conference.
He also said that a U.S.-led “maximum pressure” campaign of tough economic sanctions on North Korea would continue until the isolated nation “denuclearizes, Time Magazine reported”
Watch the video on the underlying risks Trump is taking if he goes ahead with the summit: