What is the point of negotiations if the U.S. is supposed to give in to all of Pyongyang’s demands before the so called negotiations:
Kim Kye-gwan
Former North Korean chief nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan said Saturday that dialogue with the United States can resume only when it fully accepts Pyongyang’s demands.
Kim, currently foreign ministry adviser, also stressed the North would never engage in a negotiation to exchange its core nuclear facility for partial sanctions relief as it did in the no-deal Hanoi summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in February last year.
This is all part of North Korea’s pressure campaign to get the Trump administration to fold on sanctions. They have made a big deal about the end of the year deadline to get a deal done and are now ratcheting up the pressure. From the Kim regime perspective they are probably calculating that with next year’s U.S. presidential election that the Trump administration will be eager for a foreign policy success and will eventually give in on sanctions:
North Korea is no longer interested in holding another summit with the United States that will “bring nothing,” a former chief nuclear envoy of the communist nation said Monday, urging Washington to drop its “hostile policy” against Pyongyang.
Kim Kye-gwan, currently an adviser to the North Korean foreign ministry, made the remarks in a statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, saying that he understood U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent tweet on leader Kim Jong-un to be a suggestion for another summit.
On Sunday, Trump urged the North’s leader to “act quickly” and reach a deal with him on dismantling the regime’s nuclear weapons program, adding, “See you soon!” at the end of his tweet.
