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posted by martyb on Monday July 01 2019, @01:25AM   Printer-friendly
from the Pomp-or-Progress? dept.

US-North Korea: Trump and Kim agree to restart talks in historic meeting

Donald Trump has become the first sitting US president to set foot in North Korea, after meeting Kim Jong-un in the area dividing the two Koreas. Mr Trump and the North Korean leader posed for handshakes before talking for nearly an hour in the heavily fortified demilitarised zone (DMZ). Both countries agreed to set up teams to resume stalled nuclear talks. Their last summit broke down in February with no progress on denuclearisation in North Korea.

[...] In a meeting apparently arranged after Mr Trump invited Mr Kim on Twitter on Saturday, they shook hands across the demarcation line between the Koreas before Mr Trump briefly crossed into North Korea, a symbolic milestone.

"Good to see you again. I never expected to meet you at this place," a smiley Mr Kim told Mr Trump through an interpreter in an encounter broadcast live on international television. "Big moment," Mr Trump said, "tremendous progress." Looking relaxed, Mr Kim crossed into South Korea and alongside Mr Trump said: "I believe this is an expression of his willingness to eliminate all the unfortunate past and open a new future."

But analysts have questioned whether the meeting will result in any substantive progress. "This whole meme is just another Trump snow-job of flim-flam. Does anyone seriously believe Kim will give up even one warhead [because] Trump is his bud?," said Robert Kelly, professor of political science at Pusan University in South Korea.

Sue Mi Terry, who served as a US National Security Council aide specializing in Korean affairs, said the meeting could result in progress if Mr Trump shows he is willing to accept a partial accord rather than a comprehensive deal. "I do think Kim could offer just enough on the negotiating table such as the Yongbyon nuclear facility plus yet another suspected nuclear facility in order to secure an interim deal with Trump and at least some sanctions relief," she told the New York Times.

takyon: Kim Jong-un was also invited to visit the White House.

Also at The Guardian.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Monday July 01 2019, @02:59PM (1 child)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 01 2019, @02:59PM (#861962) Journal

    I'm certain that there are elements who are waiting for him to fall on his ass, which just might occur if Kim is simply trying to buy time to complete their program and fully prove and announce they are a viable nuclear power now.

    Which is likely to never happen, given that China wasn't too pleased to see the launch of a rocket at the very moment of president Xi's first visit in US.
    Until then, China was quite ambiguous in regards with the sanctions (quite understandable for someone trying to avoid a humanitarian refugee crisis), then they used a bigger hammer than UN recommended [qz.com]

    The Chinese measures, reported by various publications including the Financial Times (paywall) and South Korea’s Daily NK news site, go further than current UN sanctions, which, while well short of what the US wanted, should see some reduction in the supply of energy products to North Korea.

    China’s bottom-line position on North Korea is that it’s not going to allow chaos on its doorstep, whether that’s a brutal war or a refugee crisis. It has long pushed for a return to talks, and for the US and South Korea to barter an end to their joint military exercises for North Korea to cease testing. But, North Korea’s frequent weapons tests, coinciding with big events in China, haven’t helped the relationship any.

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    I'd love to be pleasantly surprised that all of this will mean anything.

    Me too, mate. But I won't be holding my breath.
    He'll need a bit more than international success for the 2020 election, and I'd be grateful if Iran or any other nation won't become his dog waging.
    Fingers crossed.

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  • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday July 01 2019, @04:04PM

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Monday July 01 2019, @04:04PM (#862001) Journal

    All very interesting. Maybe today's news on Huawei is also bone-throwing back to China then, who knows? QZ's take on it seems they believe that China does not want a reunified Korea that has U.S. troops in it, and they don't want a shooting war on that border. They probably don't want a nuclear North Korea in any event, either.

    And yes, he'll need more than just foreign policy, but he does need to court independents to win also. He has his base pretty firmly locked down from what I can see. And the Democrats will try to show just the opposite - incompetence in foreign affairs which jeopardizes world trade, the control of which is really what the U.S. economy is based on at this point. (While both sides talk about their support of the American worker....)

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