Hinting at release of detained Americans alarms former diplomats
By Zachary Cohen and Kevin Liptak, CNN
Updated 8:16 PM ET, Mon May 7, 2018
... Trump and his allies outside the government sought to fan heightened expectations surrounding the possibility of their release last week -- casting the potential development as evidence of the President's negotiating prowess ahead of a sit-down with Kim.
But experts and even some administration aides are worried the celebration may be premature and could send the wrong signals to Pyongyang or even jeopardize the prisoner's release.
"It doesn't take an expert to recognize that negotiations about detained US citizens can be extremely delicate," Mintaro Oba, a former Korea desk officer at the State Department under Obama, told CNN on Monday.
"Raising expectations in public is a dangerous game, one that can signal to the other country that you now have a lot more to lose if the deal falls through," he said ...
https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/07/politics/trump-giuliani-north-korea-detainee-release/index.html