Category: US Government

Another US President is heading to South Korea in the coming weeks:

U.S. President Donald Trump will visit South Korea next month for talks with President Moon Jae-in on the denuclearization of North Korea and alliance issues, Moon’s office announced Thursday amid growing concerns about the overall peace process.
Trump plans to visit South Korea in late June as part of his regional trip. He will travel to Osaka, Japan, for the two-day G-20 summit to open on June 28. 
The exact schedule for Trump’s second trip to South Korea as U.S. president remains unannounced. He made a state visit to South Korea in November 2017.
“The two leaders plan to discuss ways for the establishment of a permanent peace regime through the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the strengthening of the South Korea-U.S. alliance,” Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson, Ko Min-jung, said early Thursday morning (Seoul time).

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like if the the North Koreans want a deal, they are going to have to get one by going through Mike Pompeo first:

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday he will continue to lead nuclear talks with North Korea, dismissing the regime’s call for his replacement.   

In a news conference held after a meeting between U.S. and Japanese foreign and defense ministers, Pompeo said “nothing’s changed,” which is viewed as an open dismissal to North Korea’s request for his replacement with a “more mature” negotiator who can better communicate with the North. 

Pompeo said the U.S. continues to work to negotiate and that he is still in charge of the team. 

He said President Trump is obviously in charge of the overall effort, but it will be his team and Special Representative Stephen Biegun who will continue to lead U.S. efforts to achieve what the North Korean leader committed to do in June last year, which was to denuclearize.

KBS World Radio

You can read more at the link, but this seems like a miscalculation by North Korea if they thought President Trump would replace Pompeo.

The next US-ROK cost sharing negotiations will be very interesting if this demand is made:

For years, President Donald Trump has complained that countries hosting American troops aren’t paying enough. Now he wants to get even, and then some.

Under White House direction, the administration is drawing up demands that Germany, Japan and eventually any other country hosting U.S. troops pay the full price of American soldiers deployed on their soil — plus 50 percent or more for the privilege of hosting them, according to a dozen administration officials and people briefed on the matter. (…….)

Victor Cha, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the administration was sending a deliberate message by demanding “Cost Plus 50” from South Korea first, even though that effort fell short.
“We have a more integrated military with South Korea than with any other ally,” Cha said. “To send this message to a front-line Cold War ally is trying to say very clearly that they want a paradigm shift with the way they do host-nation support.” [Bloomberg]

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see what sanctions relief the Trump administration is willing to give and what they get in return for the Trump-Kim II Summit:

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo mentioned easing sanctions while talking about North Korea and the US’ denuclearization negotiations. In an interview with the press on Feb. 13, Pompeo said that “it’s our full intention of getting a good outcome in exchange for relieving those sanctions. I’m very hopeful that we can do that.” 

Pompeo publicly indicated a willingness to relieve sanctions just a week or two before the second North Korea-US summit raises expectations about the prospects of the two countries’ negotiations.

The US’ previous position had been that sanctions will not be eased or lifted until North Korea’s complete denuclearization. But leading up to the second summit, the North has called for the easing of sanctions, which it says are incompatible with improving bilateral relations. Pompeo’s remarks suggest that the US has come to terms with the fact that North Korea cannot be persuaded to take steps toward denuclearization without a little quid pro quo in the form of easing sanctions. 

Hankyoreh

You can read more at the link, but the Kim regime and the Moon administration would love nothing more than re-opening the Kaesong Industrial Complex and the joint tourism projects on the East Coast. Both are large cash cows for the Kim regime that have little impact on North Korean society.

"Trump has found that his lack of experience in politics and diplomacy, which require policy knowledge, team building and nuanced negotiating ability, has left him at a decided disadvantage despite his boasts about his deal-making prowess" https://t.co/B5cZYgQbfE

— Francis Fukuyama (@FukuyamaFrancis) February 4, 2019

Well so much for Young Kim being the first Korean-American woman elected to Congress:

The South Korea-born politician took the lead in initial vote counting in the Nov. 6 election. But she lost to Cisneros by 1.6 percentage point as of 8:00 p.m. after mail-in ballots were counted, according to the Associated Press.

They competed to succeed Republican Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in the district, which includes parts of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties and is two-thirds Asian and Latino.

I still can’t get used to seeing Admiral Ambassador Harris with a mustache:

U.S. Ambassador to Korea Harry Harris visits the back alley of Seochon, an area west of Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul, to try out a traditional Korean rice alcoholic beverage called “makgeolli” for the very first time.

While sitting in a tiny, cozy hanok, Harris carefully sipped on samplers of makgeolli with all different flavors served with beautifully crafted Korean traditional dishes that go well with it. And he immediately fell in love with makgeolli. All is captured on a video posted on the embassy website.  [Korea Times]

Fair. One isn't hearing much about the first Korean-American woman elected to Congress. https://t.co/rxtwYH6zEk

— the oranckay (@oranckay) November 9, 2018

Here is anecdote from this week’s US midterm elections:

Young Kim appeared certain to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, becoming the first Korean-American woman to serve in Congress.

With 97 percent of the ballots counted, the 56-year-old Republican garnered 51.4 percent of the vote against 48.6 percent by Democrat Gil Cisneros in California’s 39th district.

If finalized, she will succeed outgoing Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The only other Korean-American to serve in Congress was Jay Kim, a Republican who represented California’s 41st district from 1993 to 1999.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but it should be no surprise that Young Kim is against President Trump’s executive order to end chain migration.

Retired General David Stilwell speaks Korean and has very close ties to US Ambassador Harry Harris because of their prior work together at US Indo-Pacific Command:

U.S. President Donald Trump has nominated Air Force veteran David Stilwell as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, according to the White House on Wednesday.

The position covers diplomacy with the Korean Peninsula, China, and Japan. His predecessor Susan Thornton stepped down in July amid rumors that she was too moderate, whereas Stilwell is thought to be a hardliner.

It can be hard to tell why people come and go in the frantically revolving doors of the Trump administration, but Stilwell’s appointment may reflect the fact that hardliners are increasingly gaining the upper hand. Trump only recently described Defense Secretary James Mattis, who is thought to have been a steadying force, as “sort of a Democrat.”

The White House described Stilwell as “an Air Force veteran with more than 35 years of experience as a pilot, commander, and Korean linguist.”

He retired in 2015 with the rank of brigadier general and is currently the director of the China Strategic Focus Group at the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Headquarters in Hawaii.

He learned Korean in a military language school in California and served as a fighter pilot in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, from 1993 to 1995. He also speaks Chinese and some Japanese.  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.