Senior Policy Director Alexandra Bell spoke with Circa about the potential summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-Un.
A former senior adviser to the State Department’s top arms control official, Alexandra Bell, said the announcement was “stunning” and a “seeming breakthrough” in North Korea’s willingness to talk about denuclearization.
“Honestly, this is the best option we’ve had in a long time for a diplomatic solution,” said Bell, who now works at the D.C.-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. She added the precaution that “when things seem to good to be true, it’s important to take a measured approach.”
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The most central question the administration has to answer is, what will we talk about?
“Ideally, you would have that all set up before President Trump and Kim are ever in a room together,” Bell said. By the time the two leaders sit down, the president should know that agenda “like the back of his hand,” she said. That includes “where our red lines are, what are the things we want, and the possible things that we’re willing to give.”
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“You’d have to assume there are only a few places that Kim Jong Un would be willing to go,” Bell suggested. The most likely location, would probably be in China. Not only because China maintains the closest relationship with North Korea, but also because China is going to want to be involved, in some way, in conversations going forward.
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It’s easy to imagine the two leaders hurling insults at one another across the negotiating table, threatening “fire and fury” or a rain of missiles.
“I would hope not,” Alexandra Bell said at the prospect of such a meeting.
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“It is important for the Trump administration to fully staff these positions and to find someone to lead on this who is an expert and not an ideologue, who has experience with complicated diplomatic negotiations,” Bell emphasized. Read more
