Trump-Moon Summit “Went Far Better Than Many Predicted”

Supposedly a lot of people thought the Trump-Moon summit was going to be a disaster and to me it concluded the way I expected it to.  President Trump advanced his issues on trade and USFK cost sharing and President Moon advanced his ideas on how to engage North Korea:

Ken Gause, a North Korea expert at CNA Corp., said that the summit “went far better than many expected.”

“I was pleased to see that Trump backed Moon’s lead on peninsula affairs, including supporting inter-Korean dialogue,” Gause said. “We shall see if this gives Moon more traction with Pyongyang, which still may need a greater commitment from Washington. Trump will continue to support if it shows progress. It also gives Moon the latitude he needs to deal with Beijing.”

He said it’s no surprise at all that Trump pushed for renegotiation of the FTA and greater defense cost-sharing.

“These are just as much domestic as foreign policy issues for the administration. If Trump can show he is getting a good deal from the Koreans on these issues, it gives him more latitude to support Moon’s approach to North Korea,” the expert said.

“So bottom line, the summit doesn’t appear to be the disaster many were predicting. Whether it has laid the foundation for a way forward, we will have to see,” he said. “I don’t expect Moon will get traction with Pyongyang unless he is willing to open the aperture for dialogue beyond denuclearization. Washington will have to support the expansion of the aperture for this to work.”  [Yonhap]

Did people really think President Trump was going to say something crazy about President Moon?  Trump has been respectful to those who have been respectful to him.  President Moon is a seasoned politician and understands how to approach Trump.  He is not like former ROK President Roh Moo-hyun.  If Roh and Trump were in the same room together then I would be worried about a summit disaster.