Quick TakeSleepless in Singapore: Dear Trump, some dos and don’ts for your big date with Kim

An open letter to the US president: keep your eyes on the prize (no, not the Nobel Peace one, the other one – building trust for the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula). Oh, and try not to smile

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang, North Korea. Photo: AP

Published: 8:02am, 11 Jun 2018Updated: 11:31am, 11 Jun 2018

Dear President Trump,

As you prepare for your historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, you are probably now being bombarded by the voices of talking-head pundits on cable television and newspaper columnists all warning what a bad idea this meeting is, and the many ways it can go wrong.

As someone who advocated more than a year ago for you to meet Kim – I called it your “Nixon to China” moment – I would like to give a counter view to those many sceptics and naysayers. I think your meeting with Kim is a great idea and, if handled correctly, could produce positive results. And here I would like to humbly and respectfully offer a few suggestions on how to make sure the summit goes right.

If only Nixon could go to China, can only Trump go to North Korea

At the outset, I am heartened that you agreed to meet Kim without preconditions, dropping the earlier demand that North Korea first show evidence of a total, verifiable and irreversible commitment to denuclearisation. Of course Kim was never going to abandon his nukes before the start of talks, since that would amount to a capitulation, not a negotiation. You have taken a reasonable position, recognising, it seems, that your ultimate goal – ridding the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons – is the end game of any talks, not the starting point.

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