President Donald Trump should prepare for a drawn-out meeting when he talks to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in May, according to a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"We're going to have to have some stamina," retired Gen. Martin Dempsey, who led the Joint Chiefs in former President Barack Obama's administration, said on Fox News Friday. "This is the same country that negotiated the shape of the table in the 1950s for months before they sat down. So it's going to take some stamina."
Dempsey was seemingly referring to North Korea's insistence on a round table rather than a rectangular table favored by others when negotiating to end the war in Vietnam, which occurred in the late 1960's.
"I think it's a very positive outcome to the pressure that's been placed economically and diplomatically," Dempsey said. "Any diplomatic outreach is certainly a better alternative than a conflict."
The White House announced on Friday that Trump will meet Kim for talks about the Asian nation's nuclear weapons program.
"I think when the president goes into this engagement, he ought to recognize, and he will, that there are other stakeholders, notably our allies in the region," the general added. "So this shouldn't be just about the United States and North Korea."
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