The incoming chair of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee says holding a U.S.-North Korea summit when the North is not fulfilling its denuclearization commitments would only serve toward the interests of Pyongyang.
In a meeting with a group of visiting South Korean lawmakers in New York on Sunday, the new Democrat committee chair Eliot Engel said he is most concerned about North Korean leaders having failed to keep their past promises.
Doubting Pyongyang's sincerity behind its pledge to destroy its nuclear weapons, Engel said he is skeptical about U.S. President Donald Trump's anticipated second meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Engel, who was the committee's ranking minority member before becoming chairman, is known to have prioritized negotiation before military confrontation.
Doubtful about the North's willingness to denuclearize, however, Engel's latest remarks likely reflect his party's mistrust toward the Trump administration's summit diplomacy with Pyongyang.