[King:] Welcome back. A top North Korean official on his way to New York right now. The Trump White House is hoping he arrives with major commitments about eliminating Pyongyang's nuclear program. Kim Yong-chol is here to meet with the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and their talks will determine whether the White House is willing to go ahead with that Singapore summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-Un. A source telling CNN the administration is looking for a big gesture from North Korea, some kind of proof that the country is serious, the regime is serious about negotiating a path to denuclearization. What kind of commitment is big enough? It's a process that would take years. It is a process that everybody, including the President and his team, are skeptical North Korea really is committed to. So what is this essentially right hand man of Kim Jong-un have to come to New York with to get them to think, OK, this is worth it?
[Bender:] I mean, the President has been clear, the post season from this administration have been clear. They want total denuclearization. You know, he's shown a little bit of willingness to hedge on the time period and how quickly that has to happen. But, I mean, he's been adamant about that. So anything short of that is going to raise real questions about what they're going to Singapore for, what they're taking this meeting for. And even inside the White House, inside this administration, there are vastly different viewpoints on what is going to happen just within the next few days. There is a real goal for this thing to happen sooner than later. But there are just a million doubts and a million variables within Mr. Trump's President Trump's own team about whether it will.
[King:] And this is a reminder as Kim Yong-chol comes to New York about the kind of people you have to deal with. If you're going to deal with North Korea, this is who you have to deal with. He is former spy chief. He's allegedly was behind that 2014 hack on Sony, that was a big deal. The top official in charge of relations with the South. Allegedly behind the sinking of a South Korea navy ship. The most senior official from North Korea to visit the United States since 2000. So a bad actor. Named in the United States sanctions against North Korea. Again, if you're going to deal with a rogue regime, you have to deal with rogue people. The question is, can Mike Pompeo get enough to convince the President to go forward. Or maybe the bigger question is, if Mike Pompeo doesn't get enough, can he convince the President not to go forward because the President wants this meeting.
[Martin:] He clearly wants the meeting, right? Isn't the issue like the real issue here that the folks around Trump eventually are going to have to say that you can't do this if this is going to be really bad for us in the long-term? Because the President clearly is dying for that photo op. He wants to be able to have the sort of back and forth, he wants the historic moment. You can just feel it how he's trying to do this, right?
[Bash:] True. But then the question is whether or not they can use if they want to go forward, and he can't be convinced otherwise whether they can use the remaining weeks to change and lower the expectations, that this is an opening dialogue, because he's getting praise from even his biggest detractors for even being willing to sit down with Kim Jong-un. So that is option c maybe to just try to change the expectations and change the parameters and say maybe this is the
[King:] Yes. To that point, or flip the equation to the sense that just weeks ago, everyone said, well, locked and loaded, fire and fury, that's so reckless and irresponsible Mr. President. Could he make the case? Yes, I decided to go ahead with this meeting. Yes, I sat down face to face with Kim Jong-un because I wanted to give it every last chance. He didn't come to the table at any serious commitment. Therefore, maximum pressure, more sanctions and when I get tougher now, they'll criticize me, I tried.
[Summers:] Absolutely. I think that's certainly the case. And obviously if somehow this does work out, they meet, they have this meeting, this would be a huge diplomatic triumph for these two nations that have been clashing. And one thing I'm curious in watching is, you know, you saw the President come out with this letter effectively calling off the summit not so long ago. We still have what, 12, 13 days until the summit is scheduled to take place. What's going to happen then? Will there be changes in the posture towards North Korean.
[King:] Specificity about the agenda. We'll see. Good luck, Secretary Pompeo. Coming up for us, a reality show superstar makes her way to the White House for some at least on paper, serious discussions.