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Secret, direct talks underway between US and North Korea
The United States and North Korea have been holding secret, direct talks to prepare for a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, a sign that planning for the highly anticipated meeting is progressing, several administration officials familiar with the discussions tell CNN.
Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo and a team at the CIA have been working through intelligence back-channels to make preparations for the summit, the officials said. American and North Korean intelligence officials have spoken several times and have even met in a third country, with a focus on nailing down a location for the talks.
Although the North Korean regime has not publicly declared its invitation by Kim Jong Un to meet with Trump, which was conveyed last month by a South Korean envoy, several officials say North Korea has since acknowledged Trump's acceptance, and Pyongyang has reaffirmed Kim is willing to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
Also at The Hill.
See also: How the USB Taught North Korea to Love K-Pop
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 08 2018, @07:55PM (5 children)
Trump hires the diplomats. Well, lots of them are held up by democrats refusing to allow confirmation votes, but aside from that assholery they are simply chosen by Trump.
Trump also tells the diplomats what to do. He can fire them if they disobey his orders. Foreign policy has been much more active under Trump, with the USA now taking much more of a leadership role.
So if the diplomats are any good, thank Trump.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 09 2018, @12:29AM (4 children)
Then why the hell is has until now Trump continued to leave the position of United States Ambassador to South Korea vacant? Breaking with tradition, he basically ordered all of Obama's former ambassadors recalled immediately as he took office, but after nearly two years he still hasn't appointed new ambassadors to 46 countries, some of which are very important to US national interest. I could understand why he'd be slow to appoint new ambassadors to Belize, Jamaica, or Iceland, but to go for nearly two years without an official ambassador to such hot spots as South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey is positively inexcusable. I don't think the Democrats even have the Congressional clout to block Trump's desired appointments to these countries. The Republicans have 238 seats in the House to the Democrats 193, and the Senate there are 51 R's to 47 D's. With those kinds of Republican numbers in Congress, Trump could appoint someone easily, but it looks rather more like he won't.
https://thediplomat.com/2018/02/still-no-us-ambassador-in-south-korea/ [thediplomat.com]
It seems Trump already had someone lined up for the post, Victor Cha, but his appointment was later withdrawn after he expressed opposition to preventative strikes in the North. That is probably making the South Koreans very worried.
(Score: 2) by Virindi on Monday April 09 2018, @12:50AM (2 children)
In the US, the House of Representatives does not vote on appointments, only the Senate. And various Senate rules require a 60-vote supermajority to call a vote, though the applicability of that to confirmations depends on what they claim the rules are this week. It is no slam dunk.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 09 2018, @01:20AM (1 child)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 09 2018, @01:28AM
Why do you seem to be so knowledgable about Trump appointing ambassadors, but don't know the basic rules like who votes on it, how many votes are needed, etc? Is this more false flag (actually pro trump) messaging?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 09 2018, @03:33AM
We want good ambassadors. Good ones are people with active careers. They aren't going to want to sit on their asses waiting for a confirmation vote that may never come. The delay is actively hurting the process by making good candidates find other things to do with their careers.
At the current rate, Trump will need all 8 years to get the same number of confirmations that Obama got in 1 year.