Rep. Norcross (D-NJ): I'm Optimistic But Cautious About North Korea
*By Alisha Haridasani*
Maintaining diplomatic momentum after the historic meeting Friday between the North Korean leader Kim Jung-un and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea will likely fall on the shoulders of President Trump, who will have his own summit with Kim next month.
“I’m sure Seoul is reaching out to their Washington counterparts and coaching them in how to deal with the North Koreans and how to achieve an outcome where all three parties, to some degree, are at least satisfied with the outcome,” said Andrew Jeong, reporter at the Wall Street Journal in Seoul.
Kim and Moon agreed Friday to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons, a pledge they have made before, and to negotiate a formal end to the Korean War, which was paused in 1953 without a peace treaty. The bold, if not entirely new, statements did not include any details about how the leaders would achieve their goals.
Success, analysts said, would depend on how Trump’s meeting with Kim goes. Announced earlier this month, and scheduled for May, it would be the first meeting between a sitting American president and a North Korean leader. Former President Jimmy Carter met with Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, on a visit to North Korea in 1994.
According to Rep. Don Norcross (D-NJ), the president will have to convince North Korea to agree to verification that it is living up to its promises. "North Korea has a history of saying one thing and doing something very different," he said.
North Korea has pledged to abandon its nuclear program several times since 1985, when it signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, only to withdraw and backtrack from earlier agreements.
"As President Reagan used to say, trust but we need to verify," said Norcross.
Though much remains to be negotiated, and success is a long way off, Trump said on Twitter that the United States “should be very proud of what is taking place in Korea.” In an [official statement](https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-inter-korean-summit/), the White House press secretary said the administration was “hopeful that talks will achieve progress toward a future of peace and prosperity for the entire Korean Peninsula,” and said the U.S. “appreciates the close coordination with our ally,” South Korea.
North Korea has pledged to abandon its nuclear program several times since 1985, when it signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, only to withdraw and backtrack from earlier agreements.
The dramatic meeting Friday between Kim and Moon took place in the demilitarized zone that divides their two countries as it has since the end of the war. Kim reached across the border, shook Moon’s hand, and then became the first North Korean leader to step foot in South Korea. That symbolic step set the tone for the rest of their seemingly friendly meeting.
If future talks are successful at ending the more than half century of enmity, the people of North Korea stand to benefit most, said Jeong of the Wall Street Journal.
Economic sanctions have crippled the country, and the government’s authoritarian rule under the Kim family has left its citizens on the brink of starvation for years.
“If this peace comes, this could mean that the North has more cash and more capital to spend on its economy,” Jeong said.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/congressman-norcross-d-nj-says-the-opioid-crisis-has-killed-too-many-of-his-constituents).
President Biden spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the fourth time this year. Biden and Putin spoke for two hours about the massing of Russian troops and materials near the Russian border with Ukraine. Various outlets have reported that the U.S. has intelligence that Russia could be planning an invasion of Ukraine in the next few months. Both countries said the call was productive, but the situation remains tense.
Hagar Chemali, foreign policy expert and host of "Oh My World!" on YouTube, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss.
A recent Wall Street Journal poll indicated that Hispanic voters are up for grabs for the upcoming midterm elections, with 41 percent of respondents saying they would vote for Democrats and 44 percent for Republicans. Bryanta "Bre" Maxwell, a Democratic Strategist, former political director for Jaime Harrison's senate campaign, and principal and CEO of Indigo Consulting, LLC, joined Cheddar to break down the numbers and to dive into what this specific electorate is looking for as the balance of power in Congress hangs in the balance in 2022.
Vice President Kamala Harris received impressive amount of media coverage in January for making history. However, the media attention waned significantly and some are now even saying she has almost disappeared from public view. Reecie Colbert, founder of BlackWomenViews Media, joined Cheddar Politics to discuss more.
If you thought you heard the last of the Mueller report back in 2019, you'd be wrong. While the bombshell report was the biggest story in Washington for years, much of the report remained redacted. Our friends at BuzzFeed News weren't satisfied, so they sued to have certain passages unredacted. They notched another win when a federal appeals court ordered ten passages from the report to be released.
Matt Topic, BuzzFeed's attorney in the case, and Jason Leopold, reporter at BuzzFeed News, join Cheddar Politics to discuss.
The U.S. reported its first confirmed case of the omicron variant in California on Wednesday. Scientists and health officials are racing to understand the variant, with the WHO saying it's still too early to determine whether it's more contagious, more deadly or more resistant to vaccines than other variants. Omicron has pushed members of the WHO to commit to start talks over a "gobal pandemic treaty" for future pandemic preparedness.
Priti Krishtel, co-founder and co-executive director of the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss.
Wednesday was not a good day for those who believe in abortion rights in this country as the Supreme Court heard arguments on a Mississippi abortion law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The majority of the court appears poised to roll back abortion rights, and the questions from the conservative justices seemed to indicate the law for nearly 50 years is likely to change.
Jessica Mason Pieklo, senior vice president and executive editor of Rewire News Group, joined Cheddar Politics to discuss Wednesday's hearing.
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former personal lawyer, has been busy since completing his prison sentence in November. He's getting into the NFT space, selling his federal prison badge and the original manuscript of his book "Disloyal" as NFTs. Cohen joined Cheddar to discuss his latest venture and why he thinks there is still much to be revealed about his case.
Jonathan Adler, Law Professor at Case Western Reserve University, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to discuss Tuesday's ruling and provide legal context to recent battles over vaccine mandates.
Carlo and Baker wrap up the week talking about the Biden economic boom that no one seems to notice, a verdict in the Jussie Smollett case, the first Starbucks union in America and the pleasures of the "dude nod."
