Following puzzling tweets from the U.S. Treasury and U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday that led to widespread confusion, a political and economic expert pointed out that the matter is a reflection of the suspected contradicting ideas between the American chief and his team.
In an interview with Think Progress on Sunday evening, former State Department diplomat, Mintaro Oba, suggested that Trump is focusing on "his personal image" while his advisers believe that pressure in the form of sanctions will make North Korea bend.
"This is a reflection of something that has been true all along: the president and his team are on completely separate tracks when it comes to North Korea," he said, adding that Trump's advisers are "more skeptical of diplomacy."
For Oba, both parties have "merits" but the apparent contradiction that Trump and his team have shown in the past week makes it look as if the American policy lacks coordination due to inside misunderstandings. Oba further believes, like many analysts, that the strategy will most likely not result to North Korea's denuclearization.
Another expert, Daryll Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, told the outlet that the White House demonstrated "incredibly incompetent policy execution" in the form of contradicting tweets. Kimball pointed out that while Trump wants further talks with DPRK's Kim Jong-un, his team thinks it is unnecessary at this point following the failed summit between the two leaders in Hanoi.
Senator Marco Rubio echoed the statements of Kimball and Oba in an interview with "Meet the Press." According to NBC News, the senator said he has never seen such confusion and contradiction in previous administrations. "I don't know why he would do that or why it happened the way it did. It's unusual. It's never happened before," he stressed.
He also commented that while he is "skeptical," it's not because he wants the U.S.-North Korea denuclearization deal to fail. Instead, he is skeptical of the matter because he believes "it will fail" at some point.
Shortly after administrative aides scrambled to understand Trump's declaration that he has withdrawn further sanctions on North Korea, two sources with knowledge of the issue said his tweet directed towards additional "large-scale" sanctions on the Asian country that has yet to be established.
In a bid to settle the chaos, a senior administration official said the White House has no plans of further sanctioning North Korea in the meantime. However, the previous sanctions involving Chinese shippers are unchanged.
