Democrat Says Diplomacy Is More Than Bringing a Casserole to Kim

(Bloomberg) -- Democrats seeking to replace Donald Trump said while it's good the president is talking with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un about eliminating his nuclear weapons, this weekend's drama appeared to be more of a show than a path toward getting results.

“Of course as a country, we want this to work,” Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, said on CNN's “State of the Union'' on Sunday. “But it's not as easy as just going and, you know, bringing a hot dish over the fence to the dictator next door.''

Trump and Kim agreed to restart nuclear talks after the impromptu hour-long meeting Sunday that saw Trump become the first American leader to set foot in North Korea while in office by joining Kim in the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas.

Read more: Trump Makes History With Kim Jong Un

But Democrats said Kim hasn't yet kept a commitment to denuclearize after two previous summits, and that Trump's approach to diplomacy appears to be more about optics than doing the hard work before high-profile meetings:

• “Any discussions are helpful,” Klobuchar said on CNN. “My problem is that this fits a pattern that we're seeing with this administration across the world. Toughness is just not saying things by tweet. Toughness is results and standing true to our country.”
• Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted, “Our President shouldn't be squandering American influence on photo ops and exchanging love letters with a ruthless dictator. Instead, we should be dealing with North Korea through principled diplomacy that promotes US security, defends our allies, and upholds human rights.”
• Trump has weakened the State Department, and diplomacy takes more than appearing before the cameras, said Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. “I don't have a problem with him sitting down and negotiating with our adversaries,” Sanders said on ABC's “This Week.” “I just don't want it to be a photo opportunity. We need real diplomacy.”
• Trump is approaching what should be careful diplomacy “very erratically, very haphazardly,” and elevating a dictator, said former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro. “What it seems like is that for the president, this is what he's about,” Castro said on CNN. “It's all show, it's all symbolism, it's not substance.''
• Even though Trump says there have been no nuclear tests since his summits with Kim, North Korea has launched missiles in contravention of the United Nations, former Texas Representative Beto O'Rourke said. “Despite three years of almost bizarre foreign policy from this president, this country is no safer when it comes to North Korea,” he said on CBS's “Face the Nation.”
• Trump “fawned” over Kim, and his “coddling of dictators at the expense of American national security and interests is one of the most dangerous ways he's diminishing us on the world stage and subverting our values as a nation,” Andrew Bates, a spokesman for former Vice President Joe Biden, said in a statement.

Republicans praised Trump's approach. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said “there's no downside'' for the president to continue to talk with Kim in pursuit of a deal to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

“If Trump thinks he can do this by continue to engage Kim Jong Un, let's give it a try,'' Graham said on CBS's “Face the Nation,'' according to an excerpt provided by the network.

Trump's supporters and critics should give him credit for getting negotiations started, Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California said. “America's in a stronger position to make the world safer, and the president did it with style that others have not be able to do,” he said on Fox's “Sunday Morning Futures.”

Still, James Clapper, a director of national intelligence under former President Barack Obama, disputed Trump's assertion during the trip that Obama was “begging'' for a meeting with Kim that the North Korea dictator refused.

“I don't know where he's getting that,'' Clapper said on CNN. “That's news to me.”

--With assistance from Ryan Beene.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Steve Geimann

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.