North Korea wants nuclear talks but does Trump know what he wants to say?

The Trump administration is considering how to respond to the North Korean offer of talks on its nuclear weapons programme at a time when its capacity to engage with Pyongyang has been hamstrung by the departure of its top Korea experts, according to former officials and analysts.

The White House has said its policy of “maximum pressure and engagement” was designed to use sanctions to push the regime of Kim Jong-un to the negotiating table to talk about the future of his nuclear weapons programme. But now that the North Korean leader has signalled a willingness to do that, it is unclear whether the administration has a plan for how to respond.

Former officials say that the administration has spent a lot of time preparing sanctions and contingency planning for military action, but little or no time planning a negotiating strategy for use if Pyongyang entered serious talks.

The last remaining US diplomat with experience of talking to the North Koreans, Joseph Yun, left his post on Friday, and the US currently has no ambassador in Seoul, since the White House withdrew the nomination of another experienced diplomat, Victor Cha. No replacement nominees have been announced.

Both Yun and Cha were advocates of engagement with North Korea and were viewed with suspicion by the White House, where senior officials have argued for a military solution to the challenge posed by Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programme.

Cha’s nomination was withdrawn because he criticised a plan to carry out a “bloody nose” punitive strike against North Korean weapons sites. Stephen Miller, a hardline Trump adviser who has previously been associated with domestic policy, is reported to have ordered the withdrawal of Cha’s nomination.

Source: theguardian