I guess this all comes down to what is considered a “meaningful” step to remove sanctions:
U.S. President Donald Trump has urged North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to take “meaningful” steps for denuclearization to earn a lifting of sanctions on his regime, a few days before their second summit in Vietnam.
“The sanctions are on in full,” Trump told reporters at the White House, Wednesday (local time). “I have not taken sanctions off. I would love to be able to, but in order to do that, we have to do something that is meaningful on the other side.”
The U.S. leader implied that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will be a long process, saying he hopes to hold more summits with Kim down the road.
“I don’t think this will be the last meeting by any chance,” Trump said.
I really hope it is true that Kim Jong-un wants to denuclearize, but we don’t know what his definition of denuclearization is:
North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun said there’s not “any room to turn around or go back” from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s “unexpected and groundbreaking decision to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.” This basically emphasizes that the “complete denuclearization” that Kim expressed during three inter-Korean summits and the North Korea-US summit last year and during his 2019 New Year’s address is an “irreversible decision.”
This is the first time the Rodong Sinmun has run a story explaining the significance and background of the “complete denuclearization” that Kim has repeatedly promised. Though the newspaper had emphasized Kim’s commitment to complete denuclearization by printing the full texts of the Apr. 27 Panmunjom Declaration, the June 12 North Korea-US Summit Statement and the Sept. Pyongyang Joint Declaration, it hadn’t run any articles elaborating on their meaning.
You can read the rest at the link because of course the left wing Hankyoreh gets all excited about this news. However, Kim Jong-un’s definition on denuclearization will likely mean an end to the US nuclear umbrella which could lead to the end of the US-ROK alliance. His definition of denuclearization may also mean that North Korea gets to keep the nuclear weapons it currently has and just not develop new ones.
It is looking more and more like not much is going to come out of the Trump-Kim II Summit:
Anchor: U.S. President Donald Trump said sanctions will remain on North Korea and he is not in a rush to remove the regimes’ nuclear arsenal. Instead, ahead of his planned meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Trump tried to highlight what the North can achieve through denuclearization. Kim Bum-soo has more on Trump’s latest news conference.
Report: Ahead of his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un later this month, U.S. President Donald Trump has again highlighted the economic potential of the reclusive state.
[Sound bite: US President Donald Trump] “… we think that North Korea and Chairman Kim have a tremendous potential as an economic force, economic power. Their location between South Korea and then Russia and China — right smack in the middle — is phenomenal.”
Speaking during a White House news conference on Friday, the American president addressed a wide range of issues, including the denuclearization of North Korea.
[Sound bite: US President Donald Trump] “But we hope we’re going to be very much equally as successful. I’m in no rush for speed. We just don’t want testing. The sanctions, as you know, remain. Everything is remaining.”
Just a day earlier, U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo hinted that at the upcoming meeting Washington may be more focused on further easing the military tension on the peninsula rather than immediately lifting sanctions.
So, a regime which engaged in a multi-generational pursuit of nuclear weapons despite every dangled inducement, threat of attack, & promise of prosperity would now relinquish its treasured sword for cash disbursements from an escrow account? This reflects our conceit & ignorance. https://t.co/TOMmMItJvP
At least one South Korean expert believes that the Trump administration has shifted its focus to getting rid of North Korea’s ICBMs instead of trying to get them to denuclearize:
Any agreement that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un make at their second summit must state that “complete denuclearization” of the communist nation is the two sides’ ultimate goal, an expert said Monday. Hong Hyun-ik, a researcher at Sejong Institute, made the case in a report amid concerns in South Korea that the United States might settle for a deal falling short of complete denuclearization as long as threats to the U.S. are removed, for instance by dismantling the North’s long-range missile capabilities. Adding fuel to such concerns was a remark that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made in a media interview earlier this month that the “security of American people” is the ultimate objective of the U.S. in its dealings with the North.
You can read more at the link, but as I have been saying for years, the Kim regime is not going to denuclearize. The best they are willing to do is sign up for “pretend denuclearization“. However, verifiably eliminating the ICBM threat is a more achievable goal because the Kim regime has not mastered this technology yet and may be more willing to give it up.
However, the Trump administration should also be trying to get rid of the North’s Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles (IRBM) as well because those are the category of missiles that threaten the US territory of Guam.
It looks like the Trump administration is falling for the freeze deal that both the Moon administration and the Chinese have been pushing for:
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said his administration wants to reduce North Korea’s capacity to build its nuclear and missile development programs and that discussions on that are an “important component” for making sure that both countries deliver on commitments made in Singapore last year.
During an interview with the Sinclair Broadcast Group, transcripts of which were released by the State Department last Friday, Pompeo said that U.S. President Donald Trump has made enormous strides in working with the North to get their commitment to denuclearize and that now was the time “to execute” and “to implement.”
Pompeo didn’t elaborate on how precisely Washington wants to “reduce” the North’s capacity, but the remarks came on the same day The New York Times reported that officials from both countries were currently negotiating a “freeze” of the North’s nuclear fuel and weapons production so that the country’s arsenal doesn’t grow while denuclearization talks drag on.
This could mean that a freeze, which could be interpreted as a short-term goal in getting Pyongyang to denuclearize, would also be discussed when Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-un late next month for their second summit. In their first summit last June in Singapore, both leaders agreed to commit “to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” but very little progress – if any – has been made since.
You can read more at the link, but if they are playing for a freeze deal they could have done this all the way back in 2017 when the Moon administration and just about every North Korea expert was pushing this idea.
Freeze Deal framework from back in 2017 shown on CNN.
A freeze deal falls right in line with North Korea’s “pretend denuclearization” strategy. A freeze deal means that the Kim regime will get concessions from the US for little to nothing in return. The big concession they will likely push is a peace treaty to end the Korean War.
Getting the peace treaty in return for a freeze deal would then allow surrogates to question the continued existence of the US troop presence in South Korea. If there is peace then why are US troops stationed in Korea?
The ultimate goal of the North’s nuclear weapons program is to co-opt the ROK into a confederation on North Korean terms. A freeze deal followed by a peace treaty plays right into the Kim regime’s hands. Additionally the freeze deal for treaty plays into China’s hands who have also long wanted to separate the ROK from the US in a bid to increase their hegemony over the region.
If North Korea is threatening to go to a Plan B, I imagine the Trump administration’s Plan B would involve Secretary Mattis:
n this file photo, taken on Nov. 1, 2018, former Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok speaks during a lecture in Seoul. (Yonhap)
North Korea could decide to live under sanctions, rather than seeking rapid economic growth through a nuclear deal with the United States, if Washington insists on keeping sanctions until Pyongyang’s denuclearization, a former unification minister said Friday. Lee Jong-seok made the remark during a conference in Seoul, saying North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wants to rebuild the country’s economy and that’s why he decided to pursue a nuclear deal with the U.S., but he’s unlikely to make “unilateral concessions” to the U.S. just for sanctions relief. “While I think the possibility is low for North Korea to break off from the denuclearization negotiations, I do think that it could prepare a Plan B,” Lee said, warning that the nuclear talks could be trapped in a long-term deadlock.
The only problem with this is that Kim Jong-un’s wish is to keep his nukes and have sanctions dropped:
US President Donald Trump will grant North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un his wishes if he delivers on denuclearisation, the South Korean president said Sunday, following talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
As officials work to arrange a second meeting between Trump and Kim, South Korea’s Moon Jae-in relayed a message to reporters given to him by the US president to pass on to the North’s leader.
“And the message was that President Trump has a very friendly view of Chairman Kim and that he likes him, and so he wishes Chairman Kim would implement the rest of their agreement and that he would make what Chairman Kim wants come true,” Moon told the Yonhap news agency while en route to New Zealand. [AFP]
You have to love the hypocrisy of this statement from North Korea in regards to their frustration with the Trump administration for not dropping sanctions for little to nothing in return:
South Korean soldiers leave a guard post in the demilitarized zone. (South Korean Defense Ministry/Getty Images)
“These acts by the U.S. apparently came from a medieval-era way of thinking that only threatening, coercive and barbarian tactics could enhance its negotiating leverage,” DPRK Today, a state-sponsored website, said Monday, also complaining about recent military exercises with Japan involving nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and bombers. Those “illogical” tactics won’t work, it said. [Washington Post]
This statement is coming from the regime that has launched countless threats, provocations, and attacks over to the decades against South Korea and the US. Here is what the ROK government has to say:
In Seoul, the government is wary of criticizing the United States directly. But behind the scenes there is a real sense that Washington needs to move the needle forward by building trust with the North.
So why is it always that the US need to build trust with North Korea? The Kim regime are the ones that have broken multiple agreements. The onus is on them to build trust with the United States not the other way around. The easiest way to build trust is by disclosing their nuclear sites and allow inspectors to begin to dismantle them. If this happens I have no doubt the Trump administration will drop sanctions.
The fact that they Kim regime are not doing this shows they have no desire to denuclearize. They clearly believe that they can have it both ways by having sanctions dropped and then pretend to denuclearize. By the time anyone catches on to the fact that they don’t plan to denuclearize, they will have had an influx of cash and moved so far forward on their confederation strategy with the Moon administration in South Korea that any reimplementing of sanctions will be too late.
I hope no one is surprised by this because the North Koreans have never really committed to giving up their nuclear weapons before or even after the dropping of sanctions:
North Korea has warned it could revive a state policy aimed at strengthening its nuclear arsenal if the United States does not lift economic sanctions against the country.
The statement released by the Foreign Ministry on Friday evening said North Korea could bring back its “pyongjin” policy of simultaneously advancing its nuclear force and economic development if the United States doesn’t change its stance. The North sopped short of threatening to abandon ongoing nuclear negotiations with Washington.
Still, it accused Washington of derailing commitments made by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump at their June summit in Singapore to work toward a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. It was the first time the North said it could potentially resume weapons tests and other development activities since Kim signaled a new state policy in April. (………..)
“The U.S. thinks that its oft-repeated ‘sanctions and pressure’ leads to ‘denuclearization.’ We cannot help laughing at such a foolish idea,” it said. The ministry described the lifting of U.S.-led sanctions as corresponding action to the North’s “proactive and good-will measures,” apparently referring to its unilateral suspension of nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests and closure of a nuclear testing ground. [Stars & Stripes]
