Trump’s Next Target Could Be a Publicity-Driven U.S.-North Korea Summit in Pyongyang

[Financial News] A forecast has emerged that U.S. President Donald Trump, who has emphasized his close relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un since last month, may ultimately visit Pyongyang and hold a politically promotional summit with Kim Jong Un.
John Bolton, who served as White House National Security Advisor during Trump’s first administration, made the claim on the first (local time) during a video discussion hosted by the U.S.-Korea Institute, a U.S. think tank. He said, “President Trump became the first U.S. president to meet a North Korean leader in Singapore in 2018, and the first U.S. president to set foot on North Korean soil during the 2019 meeting in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). So there is only one step left: visiting Pyongyang.”
Bolton argued, “Why does President Trump want a (U.S.-North Korea) summit? Because he needs a photo opportunity. Because he wants to divert attention elsewhere.” He noted that if Trump loses November’s midterm elections, he is highly likely to turn his attention overseas rather than deal with Congress at home, as previous U.S. presidents have done when entering the “final two years of their second term.”
As the war with Iran continued to drag on this year and Trump faced diplomatic difficulties, he suddenly began mentioning North Korea and Kim Jong Un in August, shifting the focus. On the 16th of last month, Trump described North Korea on Truth Social as “a country that respects the United States and does not threaten it.” Trump said he did not want to send an inappropriate signal to North Korea through U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises and announced that the exercises would be scaled back. At the same time, he emphasized that he had a good relationship with Kim Jong Un. During a meeting with reporters on the 17th of last month, Trump also claimed that Kim Jong Un had “responded” to his proposal for talks. On the 19th, Trump said he would meet Kim Jong Un within the year and stated that Kim Jong Un had “57 very powerful nuclear weapons.”
Bolton said, “Trump also proposed to Kim Jong Un in Singapore, ‘How about you ride with me on Air Force One, and we stop in Pyongyang?’” He emphasized, “The purpose of a visit to Pyongyang would be the publicity effect. That is truly all there is to it.”
Bolton also said that Trump had referred to North Korea as a “nuclear-armed state.” While he was “very skeptical that there is anything we could obtain from Kim Jong Un,” Bolton predicted that “North Korea will have calculated very carefully what it could gain from that summit.” He said, “I think President Trump suddenly came up with this idea (of a U.S.-North Korea summit) one day,” adding, “There is certainly a possibility that discussions are now underway to determine whether it can be made a reality. However, a summit that achieves nothing could instead set the situation back.” Bolton also criticized Trump as dangerous because he makes unilateral judgments about international relations.
Bolton further predicted that North Korea could carry out a limited military provocation against South Korea based on its experience deploying troops to the war in Ukraine. He stressed, “If you think about the Northern Limit Line, North Korea could consider simply occupying several islands beyond that line. It could create a kind of test case to see what President Trump’s resolve is. That possibility is deeply concerning.”
Meanwhile, Bolton advised President Lee Jae Myung, saying, “Not actively pursuing a summit with President Trump is not necessarily a bad thing,” and added, “You need to be careful about what President Trump might say and do. That is why the risks are so high.”
 
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