Trump Push for Hasty DMZ Photo-Op Risks Longer North Korea Problems
- President draws spotlight from Democrats seeking to oust him
- Invites Kim to border despite deadlock in nuclear talks
U.S. soldiers stand guard next to the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission (UNCMAC) conference buildings at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Paju, South Korea.
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg
U.S. President Donald Trump siphoned away attention from the cavalcade of Democrats vying to replace him with an audacious invitation for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to shake hands at the Demilitarized Zone.
The offer -- naturally made over Twitter while the president attended the Group of 20 summit in Japan -- was an act of showmanship fraught with risk for U.S. efforts to dismantle Kim’s nuclear arsenal. Despite two historic photo-ops with the North Korean leader over the past year, denuclearization talks have gone nowhere.