Amid stalled June 12 summit talks with North Korea, the chasm on the timetable of denuclearization is as wide as "immediately" in the goals of President Donald Trump vs. "never" in the desires of Kim Jong Un, according to Asian affairs expert Gordon Chang.
"We want the North Koreans to dismantle immediately — the North Koreans want to dismantle their program never — so yeah, a difference in timetable," Chang told Fox News' "Shepard Smith Reporting" on Monday. "There's no deal that both sides would accept.
"And really this is an issue of not what the North Koreans want, this is an issue of what President Trump will do to use American power to push the Chinese and Russians out of the way, and do other things to make sure the North Koreans don't have any money.
"Because, if they don't have money, they can't launch missiles, they can't detonate nukes, and Kim Jong Un can't give gifts to senior regime members in order to buy loyalty, which means he has to give up his weapons. So, basically it's up to the Trump Administration to use the elements of American power."
The maximum pressure effort through economic sanctions have helped facilitate North Korea's interest in denuclearization as much as the threat of force, Chang, author of "Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World," told guest host Leland Vittert.
"Certainly there's been a number of threats the Americans have made over the course of the last year," Chang said. "It's also John Bolton, when he was a Fox News contributor. That's one of the things that has forced not only the North Koreans to change their policies but also the Chinese and the South Koreans.
"That's why Kim is there right now. It's not only the sanctions but the threat of the use of force."
Now, Chang says, President Trump needs to "bully" China in their trade talks to show Kim the U.S. will not bend on its demands to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.
"The Chinese said publicly, 'you're not going to get a trade deal, Mr. Trump, unless you give us sanction relief on ZTE,'" Chang told Vittert. "The president said he will do that. Trump wilted under pressure. That doesn't mean he can't push the Chinese around again.
"Our president needs to do that as a demonstration for Kim. Once he sees that Trump is willing to bully the Chinese a little bit, then I think Kim will actually start to play ball with us.
"Until we do that, this is going to be very difficult."