Admiral Harris is now on the job in South Korea and he has decided to keep his little mustache he has grown out since retiring from the Navy:
Harry Harris
New U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris on Saturday expressed his resolve to further cement Washington’s alliance with Seoul, casting the security partnership as a “pillar of strength and stability” in the region and beyond.
The retired admiral issued a brief public statement after arriving at Incheon International Airport on Saturday to fill the ambassadorial post that has been vacant since his predecessor Mark Lippert stepped down upon the inauguration of Donald Trump in January 2017.
“President Trump and his administration have made clear strengthening even further America’s alliance with Korea is one of our top priorities. Our presidents have been in regular contact as we work together to persuade North Korea to chart a new course,” he told reporters.
“Over the past 65 years, the U.S.-ROK (Republic of Korea) alliance has served as a pillar of strength and stability throughout the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. America could not ask for a better friend, partner and ally than the ROK,” he added. The Republic of Korea is South Korea’s official name. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Here is the latest response by President Trump to critics of his North Korea policy:
President Trump speaks to reporters on the North Lawn of the White House on June 15, 2018. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)
President Trump on Tuesday brushed aside questions over whether his assertion that he “solved” the crisis with North Korea was premature amid reports its leader, Kim Jong Un, is trying to conceal parts of its nuclear weapons program.
“Many good conversations with North Korea — it is going well!” Trump tweeted. “In the meantime, no Rocket Launches or Nuclear Testing in 8 months. All of Asia is thrilled. Only the Opposition Party, which includes the Fake News, is complaining.”
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Trump’s brash declaration comes two days before Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to travel to North Korea to meet with Kim — his third trip to the rogue nuclear nation. [Yahoo News]
I think we can take this as a good sign that the Trump administration will not drop sanctions prior to North Korea taking irreversible denuclearization measures:
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday extended sanctions on North Korea for a year, citing the “unusual and extraordinary” threat posed by its nuclear weapons program.
The extension comes 10 days after Trump’s historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, during which the North committed to “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for U.S. security guarantees.
“The existence and risk of proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the Korean Peninsula and the actions and policies of the Government of North Korea continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” Trump wrote in a routine notice to Congress.
For this reason, Trump said, six executive orders that were issued under his and past administrations to sanction North Korea for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs must continue in effect beyond June 26.
“Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency with respect to North Korea declared in Executive Order 13466,” he wrote.
The action appears to underscore the Trump administration’s goal of keeping sanctions on North Korea until it takes concrete steps toward denuclearization. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but the Kim regime must have been expecting this considering how muted their reaction has been so far.
U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim enters the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on June 1, 2018, to meet with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha. Sung Kim, a former chief U.S. nuclear envoy, met with North Korean officials at the truce village of Panmunjom over the past few days for talks on North Korea’s denuclearization methods and timelines and ensuring the North’s regime security. The U.S. and North Korean delegations were led by Sung Kim and North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, respectively. (Yonhap)
It appears that President Trump is determined to end the North Korean issue one way or another in his first term as US President according to Senator Lindsey Graham:
This EPA file photo shows U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham. (Yonhap)
U.S. President Donald Trump wants to end the North Korean nuclear crisis during his current term, and will likely use military means if diplomacy fails, an American senator said Sunday.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) made the remark on Fox News, citing his conversation with the president three days earlier.
“He says he’s going to end this conflict within his first term, that every other president has been played,” Graham said. Trump’s term ends in early 2021.
“President Trump told me three days ago that he wants to end this in a win-win way,” the senator continued. “He thinks that’s possible, but if they pull out, they play him, that we’re going to end North Korea’s threat to the American homeland in his first term and I’ll let you surmise as to what that might look like.” [Yonhap]
It will be interesting to hear what the details of this were if they are ever released:
Mike Pompeo
CIA Director Mike Pompeo made a top-secret visit to North Korea over Easter weekend as an envoy for President Trump to meet with that country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, according to two people with direct knowledge of the trip.
The extraordinary meeting between one of Trump’s most trusted emissaries and the authoritarian head of a rogue state was part of an effort to lay the groundwork for direct talks between Trump and Kim about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, according to the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the highly classified nature of the talks.
The clandestine mission, which has not previously been reported, came soon after Pompeo was nominated to be secretary of state. [Washington Post]
