Arguably Pompeo’s greatest test so far as secretary of state is in Hanoi, Vietnam, where Trump has his second meeting with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. “Today, if you asked me, I would not say with any conviction that the North Koreans have decided to denuclearize,” says Biegun, the special representative on North Korea. “But our policies are built around the expectation that they can make that decision.”Last year, Trump set a high bar for success — “the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization” of North Korea. Gen. James Clapper, the intelligence chief who handled many of the Obama administration’s negotiations with North Korea, is skeptical that Pompeo and Trump can deliver. But in the end, it would be a one on one, and Trump would most likely be ad-libbing.

Source: New York Times February 26, 2019 09:56 UTC