President Donald Trump's decision to cancel his summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is, in itself, no cause for regret. Going ahead with a meeting that had little chance of success would have been a mistake, compounding errors the administration has already made on this issue. The cancellation is an opportunity to rethink, one the president and his advisers need to grasp.
Exactly why Trump won't meet Kim in Singapore on June 12 is unclear. Perhaps he's come to think that the North Koreans were never sincere about discussing a formula to abandon their nuclear-weapons program. In any event, Trump's withdrawal avoids the risk that he might have struck a bad deal in pursuit of a moment's applause--and that's all to the good. The door to future negotiations hasn't closed. North Korea says it wants to keep talking. What matters now is to get this process on track.
This will take some doing. Trump's approach up to now has weakened the U.S. position. If the U.S. had shown it was prepared to negotiate in good faith and the North wasn't, it would now be in a stronger position. Instead, South Korea's government may grudgingly agree with the North's charge that the U.S. is not to be trusted. China will be confirmed in that assessment. Both countries may soon be urging a lifting of sanctions.
The administration should assure its allies and China that it's still open to serious talks. U.S. diplomats should stay in contact with North Korean counterparts and do the preparatory work that should already have been done. They'll need to repair the partnership with South Korean officials, reportedly blindsided by Trump's announcement.
One thing hasn't changed. A negotiated settlement offers the only real prospect for peace on the Korean peninsula. Achieving that settlement will probably require the U.S. to accept something less than prompt and complete denuclearization--but something less than that could nonetheless reduce the North Korean threat to a more manageable level. That's well worth pursuing, and if it happens would deserve to be celebrated. But to get there, Trump and his advisers will need to change their approach, do their homework, and start measuring their words.
Editorial on 05/26/2018