Trump’s North Korea visit shocks Washington

(NBC News) President Trump’s weekend visit to North Korea is drawing criticism at home.

Mr. Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to cross the demilitarized zone and onto North Korean soil Sunday, where he shook hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

President Trump is trying to cast the meeting in hopeful terms, but critics wonder if the president gave up a strategic advantage in elevating the North Korean leader.

“Dictators, generally, don’t trust anybody, so, I’m not really quite certain whether this bromance diplomacy is really going to lead to a denuclearization agreement,” says NBC News Korean Affairs Analyst Victor Cha.

The administration is pushing back against a New York Times report that new nuclear negotiations the two leaders agreed to restart would be a freeze, allowing Pyongyang to keep it’s nuclear arsenal as long as no new weapons are built.

“What we want them to do is destroy some of them, with verification, curb their use, not just freeze new production,” says former United Nations Ambassador Bill Richardson.

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