Gordon Chang: If This Meeting Today with North Korea Doesn’t Go Well, the Summit Probably Will Not Occur

‘Up to now we’ve made no concessions to the North Koreans’

EXCERPT:

SMITH: "As you can see the press were let into that room for a brief time and Heather Nauert the State Department's spokesperson also seen there. But it was a 4 by 4 meeting, four U.S. officials, four North Korea officials, Kim Yong Chol shaking hands with the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Those critical meetings now officially begin. Let's bring in Gordon Chang author of 'Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On the World'. Gordon, what a visual that was right here on 38th Street and 1st Avenue in New York City. And Kim Jong-un’s right-hand man sitting down with our secretary of state."
CHANG: "Yeah. This is critical. Because, up to now we’ve made no concessions to the North Koreans. The North Koreans have made a lot. They released the three Americans, they've made pledges to denuclearize. But the moment that summit begins North Korea gets a big win, because Kim gets legitimization. We are going to see the pictures of Kim and Trump for decades because that's what the regime going to use. That means Pompeo needs to get a big win for us in terms of communique where the North Koreans make pledges that mean something. Not only giving up weapons but also verification. So this is absolutelly critical. If this meeting today doesn’t go well despite all the momentum we’ve seen the last three or four days the summit probably will not occur."

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