Tag: denuclearization

Judging by these statements it appears that President Trump is not about to agree to any “pretend denuclearization” deal with North Korea in return for dropping sanctions:

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday North Korea must “get rid of the nukes” before seeing any relief from international sanctions, making clear that he’s waiting for more tangible actions on denuclearization.

Speaking at a rally in West Virginia, Trump said he wanted to take the “massive sanctions” imposed on the North for its nuclear and long-range missile tests and launches “off quickly,” but emphasized Pyongyang must take denuclearization steps first.

“Can I be honest? I haven’t taken off the sanctions. We have massive sanctions,” said the former real estate mogul before cheering crowds. “I want to take them off quickly. But they have got to get rid of the nukes. Got to get rid of the nukes,” stressed Trump.

Trump’s remarks jibed with the U.S. government’s decision on Tuesday to slap sanctions on two Russian shipping companies and six Russian vessels for under-the-table dealings with North Korea in violation of UN sanctions.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to see what the Kim regime will do in response.  They could just decide to wait out the clock and see if President Trump is defeated in the next election and try again for a “pretend denuclearization” deal with another President.

we are nearing the point where the u.s. will need to decide whether to acknowledge that the dprk isn’t disarming and never agreed to, or get angry that the dprk is breaking promises it never made https://t.co/NyMRRAq35b

— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) August 19, 2018

I am not getting my hopes up with this news:

North Korea has agreed to provide key information to the United States about its nuclear warheads and secret test sites, sources said Tuesday.

“North Korea plans to hand over a list of its secret nuclear test sites as well as information about its nuclear warheads to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when he visits Pyongyang this month,” one source told The Korea Times.

He said chances are high that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will meet Pompeo in person to discuss details about how and when the North will abandon its nuclear weapons. During his previous visit to Pyongyang, Pompeo said his team was hoping that “we can make a big step here before too long.”

“Washington was demanding Pyongyang hand over a list of all things relating to its nuclear capabilities. It’s uncertain whether the North accepted this request; but submitting a list of nuclear capabilities including sites will push forward the nuclear disarmament talks which have been stalled,” said another source asking for anonymity.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but this is just a list and who knows if it is a complete list?  Judging by past North Korean behavior it is likely incomplete.  Additionally a list is not denuclearization, this is just more pretend denuclearization. When the warheads and nuclear material begin to flow out of the country that is when I will be convinced the Kim regime is serious about denuclearizing.

According to the article the Moon administration supports pretend denuclearization.  With the submitting of the list the Moon administration is expected to ask the Trump administration to drop sanctions and give Kim Jong-un his long awaited pay day for doing little in return.  I guess we will see in the coming weeks if the Trump administration will support pretend denuclearization or not.

As I and many have been saying for years, the Kim regime is not going to denuclearize:

Anchor: A U.S. news Web site says the Trump administration has presented North Korea with a formal timeline for starting the process of denuclearization. The report comes as the U.S. and North Korea are witnessing a stalemate in their nuclear negotiations and Washington seems to have adopted a carrot-and-stick approach towards Pyongyang.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.

Report: U.S. news Web site Vox reported on Wednesday that Washington had proposed Pyongyang hand over 60 to 70 percent of its nuclear weapons within six to eight months, after which the U.S. or a third party would take possession of the warheads and remove them from the North.

According to the report, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo presented the plan to North Korean negotiators multiple times over the past two months, but the North’s delegation, led by senior official Kim Yong-chol, has turned down Pompeo’s proposal each time.

Vox said that “it’s unclear what concessions, if any, the U.S. would offer in exchange beyond sanctions relief or removing North Korea from the state sponsors of terrorism list.”

Given that Pyongyang has yet to disclose to Washington just how many nuclear bombs it has, it would be difficult to verify the North’s arsenal volume even if it did agree to hand over what it claims to be 60 to 70 percent of its arsenal.

One source told Vox that Pompeo’s main goal in this stage of the negotiations is solely to get Pyongyang to officially reveal how many nuclear weapons it has.  [KBS World Radio]

You can read more at the link, but I really hope I am wrong one day about this and the Kim regime decides to give up all their nuclear weapons, but judging from past history and current statements it appears to be unlikely.

What the Kim regime is willing to do is pretend to denuclearize like they did during past US presidential administrations.  They will do this to create the myth that “progress” is happening to denuclearize North Korea.  In return for pretending to denuclearize the Kim regime would want the sanctions dropped.  In such a scenario President Trump would probably get his Nobel Peace Prize for signing a pretend denuclearization agreement, the Moon Jae-in administration in South Korea could then start pumping cash into North Korea, and the Kim regime can then use the funds to hand out cash to the regime elite and further modernize the military.

Signing up to such an agreement may sound ridiculous, but remember the US has signed up for pretend denuclearization deals not once, but twice!  The first was the Agreed Framework during the Clinton administration and then the Six Party Talks deal during the Bush administration.  Will there be a third one?  Time will tell.

I don’t think the North Koreans have to worry about giving up their nuclear science when few people think they will ever actually denuclearize in the first place:

North Korea will not give up its nuclear science even in the event of denuclearization, the country’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said, according to Iranian media reports.

Speaking in Tehran, Thursday, Ri speculated the U.S. will remain hostile toward North Korea even after their leaders held a summit in June and said his country needs a safeguard.

Ri, who arrived in Iran on Tuesday, made his remarks as Pyongyang and Washington accuse each other of dragging their feet in implementing the agreement reached at the summit on the North’s denuclearization.

His remarks also came after the government of U.S. President Donald Trump issued a fresh round of nuclear sanctions against Iran, Tuesday.

The Trump administration previously broke the 2015 nuclear deal among Iran and the six major powers _ the U.S., China, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and Germany. The Tuesday sanctions heightened Iran’s distrust toward the U.S. nuclear policy.  [Korea Times]

For the Korea Times’ benefit I will need to educate them on the Iran Nuclear Deal.  The deal was never ratified by the US Senate which means all it was, was a personal promise from then President Barack Obama to the Iranians.  He is no longer the President which means the current President is not obligated to keep Obama’s personal promise.  The Iranians and the six other nations involved with this deal all knew this, but figured Hillary Clinton would be the next President, thus keeping the deal in place for an extended timeframe.

That is why I have always said that any denuclearization agreement reached with North Korea should be ratified by the Senate because then the US is obligated by treaty to follow it.

If true this is far from #CVID touted by many US officials (to which #DPRK has never agreed anyway). https://t.co/bWsKaMQpxt

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) August 8, 2018

Prominent North Korean defector Thae Yong-ho who is also a candidate for the most hated person by South Korean leftists who they haven’t put in jail yet, has started his own English language blog.  In his recent posting he discusses how Kim Jong-un has no intention to denuclearize and is strengthening the Anti-Imperialist Education within North Korea against South Korea:

The reality is that when North Korea’s Kim Jong-un came out to the inter-Korean Summit and US-North Korean Summit, he had no intention of giving up his nuclear weapons. It was simply a way to earn time to hold onto his survival by putting on a ‘show’ of pretending to be interested in denuclearization.

While Kim Jong-un thinks that as long as he is in possession of nuclear weapons he will be able to continue the hereditary rule of the Kim family, in actuality,  as long as North Korea has nuclear weapons it will not be treated as a ‘normal state.’ In fact the nuclear weapons will be the malignant tumour that leads to the collapse of the North Korean system.

At this moment in time, South Korean citizens are delighted at the start to an era of forgiveness and cooperation between the two Koreas and think that through these inter-Korean exchanges, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un will change.

However, while Kim Jong-un is pretending to be interested in inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation on the outside; internally, he is intensifying the ‘Anti-Imperialist Education’ and warning his people about getting swept away with the exchange and cooperations with South Korea.  [Thae Yong-ho]

You can read more at the link.

Here is another example of a forum being used to pressure the US to drop sanctions against North Korea:

The top diplomats of the two Koreas and regional powers engaged in a flurry of diplomatic talks over the past few days in Singapore, although no breakthroughs were made toward Pyongyang’s denuclearization and the proclamation to formally end the Korean War.

This year’s ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) followed two inter-Korean summits at the Panmunjom truce village in spring and the unprecedented North Korea-U.S. summit in this city-state in June.

It was a sort of prelude to the U.N. General Assembly to be held in New York next month.

The gathering was widely expected to help maintain the momentum for constructive dialogue amid some signs of an impasse in the Korea peace process.

The U.S. is pressing the North to take concrete denuclearization steps, beyond a show of dismantling nuclear and missile testing sites in the absence of international experts.

The North says it has done a lot, and the Trump administration should reciprocate.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but wouldn’t it be great if President Trump responded to criticisms of reciprocating Pyongyang’s so called “good-will” gestures by saying that the US is showing good-will by not bombing them?

We could all see this coming, the leftists in the Moon administration want to get special exceptions to the international sanctions on North Korea:

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Monday rejected concerns about Seoul’s alleged move to ease international sanctions on Pyongyang, saying it is seeking an “exception” to facilitate cross-border exchanges.

Kang made the remarks upon arrival from her visit to the United States, amid media speculation that she stressed the need for an easing of the sanctions during her meetings with the U.N. Security Council member states.

“Now is not a phase when sanctions are being eased. … It is not an easing of sanctions,” the minister said. “(What I stressed) was to get exceptions from the sanctions, which are needed for inter-Korean projects.”

Since early this year, concerns have persisted that Seoul’s push for an increase in cross-border exchanges could contribute to an unraveling of the sanctions regime, which analysts said has helped Pyongyang change its calculus on its nuclear program.

Asked about whether her visit to the U.S. this time was aimed at playing a role as an intermediary between Washington and Pyongyang, Kang stressed the importance of communication between the allies.  [Yonhap]

If the Trump administration allows the easing of sanctions that would allow the reopening of the Kaesong Industrial Complex and the joint-tourism projects in North Korea they might as well scrap the sanctions all together.  These former joint-projects were major generators of foreign revenue for the Kim regime that gave them the resources necessary to develop their nuclear program in the first place.

Wouldn’t it be great if when Secretary of State Pompeo meets with Kang Kyung-wha he instead briefs her on a plan to introduce new sanctions due to nothing significant having been reaching on North Korea’s denuclearization?

Now there is supposedly not a time limit on North Korean dencuclearization:

U.S. President Donald Trump says that there is “no time limit” on North Korea’s denuclearization, reiterating that negotiations with Pyongyang are a process.

Trump made the remarks to reporters on Tuesday at a meeting with members of Congress at the White House, explaining the outcome of his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.

Trump said that discussions on dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons program are ongoing and progressing well, but stressed that there is “no rush for speed” to achieve the goal.

He added that the sanctions against Pyongyang are still in place and referenced the improving U.S.-North Korea relations as the North has refrained from missile tests for nine months and released three U.S. detainees in May.   [KBS World Radio]

You can read more at the link, but it may seem like more of the same in regards to North Korea negotiations.  However, I would not hit the panic button on this as long as the sanctions remain in place. The big question though is what is Kim Jong-un’s time limit?  At some point the regime is going to want the sanctions dropped for little to nothing in return.

A possibility is that the Trump administration’s new strategy may be to wait out the Kim regime.  Maybe the Trump administration understands now that the Kim regime will not denuclearize and instead just play along with negotiations while keeping the sanctions in place.  If North Korea eventually returns to making provocations this could be the excuse the Trump administration needs to take other actions against the regime.