[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 64 (Thursday, April 19, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2290-S2291]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              NORTH KOREA

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, let me begin by addressing the 
administration's ongoing effort to secure a diplomatic deal with North 
Korea to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
  It is a worthy and ambitious goal. Indeed, we should all root for a 
diplomatic resolution to the decades-long conflict. It is undeniable, 
however, that

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this meeting is fraught with peril. My primary concern is that the 
President, in his penchant for spur-of-the-moment decision making, 
could lead the United States into danger in one of two ways.
  My first concern is that the President, without a clear or coherent 
strategy, will buy a pile of magic beans, accepting an agreement--any 
agreement--that allows him to declare victory. We know what he will 
say: the greatest compromise ever, greater than Versailles, greater 
than anything. Talking is good, but it is very far from an agreement to 
disarm.
  President Trump should not accept a deal that doesn't include 
concrete steps to verifiably roll back North Korea's nuclear and 
missile programs, including those that threaten our allies and 
partners. So that is one concern: that the President accepts any 
agreement because he is just so eager to tout that he was a great deal 
maker and made an agreement, even if it is a rotten agreement for 
America.
  My second concern is sort of the opposite. My second concern is that 
the President, without a disciplined or coherent strategy, will walk 
away from a bilateral meeting if he doesn't get everything he wants. 
There is also the possibility that the President will walk away from an 
agreement after the fact if he decides later he is unhappy with it. We 
have seen him do that on so many occasions. As someone who has 
negotiated deals with the President, I know it is a very real 
possibility.
  Now, some may say that these are opposite possibilities. They are, in 
a certain sense. If he takes too little, he walks away because he 
didn't get everything. But they are all underlined by one coherent 
fact: There is no strategy--at least apparent to just about everyone.
  The President seems to operate on a whim, saying one thing one day 
and another thing the next. When there is no coherent strategy, each of 
these dangers is too real. Either scenario could leave relations with a 
rogue state worse and more dangerous than before.
  Now, the President said last night at Mar-a-Lago that he would leave 
a meeting with Kim Jong Un if it wasn't fruitful.
  Mr. President, this is not like a business deal. There is a very real 
danger to walking away from a meeting with a nuclear-armed dictator. It 
could risk serious escalation. If the United States is seen as the one 
walking away from talks, we should be under no illusions that China, 
Russia, and others will not follow suit.
  We all want to see negotiations with North Korea succeed. If it is 
true that North Korea will take its demand for U.S. troops to leave the 
Korean Peninsula off the table, that is a good step. Our commitment to 
the Korean people and our alliances with Korea and Japan are not 
subject to negotiation. But, I repeat, if these talks are going to 
truly succeed, the President and his team require a coordinated 
strategy, something this administration hasn't been able to show with 
respect to Russia, Syria, Yemen, the Middle East, and other hotspots 
around the world.

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