Team Trump quietly filling 'pot of gold' encouraging Kim Jong-un to denuclearize
By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times - Monday, January 28, 2019 The Trump administration is quietly preparing a special “economic package†designed to entice North Korean leader Kim Jong-un into taking specific steps toward dismantling his nuclear weapons program when he and President Trump meet for their highly anticipated second summit.
The initiative, spearheaded by Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun, has already been touted in private working-level talks with the North Koreans and involves creating a kind of escrow account to prove to Mr. Kim that the U.S. and its allies are truly committed to rewarding Pyongyang economically if it comes through on denuclearization, The Washington Times has learned.
While the State Department has not commented publicly, sources familiar with the plan say it centers on securing guarantees for billions of dollars worth of cash contributions from Japan, South Korea, the European Union and others that would go toward North Korean infrastructure and development projects.
“These are guarantees that can be waved under Kim’s nose to assure him of the pot of gold waiting for him on the other side of the rainbow,†said one of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The efforts by Mr. Biegun, a former top Ford Motor Co. executive tapped by Mr. Trump in August to get working-level talks moving with the North Koreans, are being watched closely by regional analysts.
Several said there is a consensus within the administration about the need to “incentivize†Mr. Kim, following a lack of concrete progress on the reducing the North’s nuclear and missile arsenals after the first Trump-Kim summit last June in Singapore.
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https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jan/28/stephen-biegun-preps-north-korea-economic-package-/
