North Korea's Position Has Been 'Relatively Consistent'
Kevin Rudd on Bloomberg Markets
On May 25, 2018, ASPI President Kevin Rudd spoke with Blomberg’s David Westin and Shery Ahn about President Trump’s cancellation of the U.S.-North Korea summit.
Given the lack of hostility in North Korea’s response, Rudd predicts that it’s still a possibility that a summit will occur. North Korea’s statement provided a “measured ruling out that the DPRK could ever unilaterally scrap its nuclear weapons,” suggesting that Pyongyang expects nuclear negotiations to happen in stages. In that sense, North Korea’s position has been “relatively consistent.”
Rudd describes the consequences of the sudden cancellation as a “rolling nightmare” for American allies, particularly South Korea. With President Moon having to manage domestic politics, the U.S.-South Korea relationship is “on the edge.” The larger strategic danger to the U.S., Rudd argues, is that by continually leaving their allies “domestically exposed,” it risks the “long-term fracturing of political trust,” which has far greater implications than whether or not the summit will go on. (7 min. 42 sec.)