Despite Trump's letter, the North Korea summit will probably still happen on June 12
Don't take President Trump's letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un literally. In that letter delivered on Thursday, Trump called off the two leaders' Singapore summit scheduled for June 12. Trump blamed North Korea's recent rhetoric towards Vice President Pence for souring the air.
Yet Trump also told Kim something else: he shouldn't "hesitate" to get in touch with the White House if he decides he wants the summit to go ahead. That caveat, I believe, will see the U.S. and North Korean leaders meeting as scheduled.
The important point here is that both sides want the summit to occur on June 12. Kim wants the summit because it will feasibly allow him to avoid new sanctions from the U.S. and please China, Kim's patron, which wants the summit to go ahead. Trump wants the summit to go ahead so that he can negotiate a diplomatic solution to the North Korean ballistic missile crisis.
But there's another component here which makes the summit likely to go ahead: the two leaders' language towards each other. It's notable that the splattering of rhetoric from North Korea has targeted Pence and not Trump personally. The distinction is crucial because it shows that the North Koreans now want to avoid personally alienating Trump, who they previously referred to as a "dotard."
In the same vein, Trump's letter canceling the summit hedged criticism of North Korea's rhetoric with a generous thank you to Kim for his recent "beautiful gesture," referring to the release of U.S. prisoners held in North Korea. Every word matters in the diplomatic dance, and so does every word not uttered.
Still, Trump hasn't made things easier for himself here. The president's decision to appease North Korea by canceling a long-scheduled joint military exercise with South Korea must have encouraged the North Korean dictator to believe his American negotiating partner could be bent with pressure. Trump's action today is at least partly designed to rectify that balance of power.
But I think the summit is still likely to go ahead because both sides want it to go ahead. Let's see what happens over the next week.
https:// www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/despite-trumps-letter-the-north-korea-summit-will-probably-still-happen-on-june-12