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posted by martyb on Monday October 07 2019, @01:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the good-luck-with-that dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Working-level nuclear talks in Sweden between officials from Pyongyang and Washington have broken off, North Korea's top negotiator has said, dashing prospects for an end to months of stalemate.

The talks, at an isolated conference centre on the outskirts of Stockholm, were the first such formal discussions since US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met in June and agreed to restart negotiations that stalled after a failed summit in Vietnam in February.

The North's chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Myong Gil, who spent much of the day in talks with an American delegation, cast the blame on what he portrayed as US inflexibility, saying the other side's negotiators would not "give up their old viewpoint and attitude".

"The negotiations have not fulfilled our expectation and finally broke off," Kim told reporters outside the North Korean embassy, speaking through an interpreter.

The US State Department said Kim's comments did not reflect "the content or spirit" of nearly nine hours of talks, and Washington had accepted Sweden's invitation to return for more discussions with Pyongyang in two weeks.

"The US brought creative ideas and had good discussions with its DPRK counterparts," spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement. North Korea is also known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

She said the US delegation had previewed a number of new initiatives that would pave the way for progress in the talks, and underscored the importance of more intensive engagement.

[...] On Saturday, negotiator Kim accused the US of having no intention of solving difficulties through dialogue, but said a complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula was still possible.

It would only happen "when all the obstacles that threaten our safety and check our development are removed completely without a shadow of doubt," he said, in an apparent reference to North Korea's desire for Washington to ease economic pressure.

On Sunday, China's President Xi Jinping and the North's leader exchanged messages to reaffirm the neighbours' relationship on the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties. China is the North's only major ally.


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 07 2019, @08:04PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 07 2019, @08:04PM (#903836)

    From the NorK side, there's been no assurance at any point that any of these 'war games' wouldn't turn into a real invasion. So each time, they man their defenses, and the harvest gets neglected.

    so 15 million people wait on the border to repel the evil Amurika? You want us to believe that the entire army is in the fields collecting rice?? Please! DPRK's food issues have nothing to do with "neglected fields". It has everything to do with them neglecting (with shit poor planning) their environment resulting in floods, droughts and destroyed top soil.

    They currently spend a tremendous amount of their GDP on defense, far more than they can reasonably afford. But the choice seems more reasonable if you grasp their position, as a very small very poor half of a nation, under constant threat of attack from the worlds superpower

    Not sure if you are just repeating DPRK's propaganda ..... but you do realize that this is idea that DPRKs dictators have rallied around to maintain complete control? Maybe, just maybe, you will then understand that them spending as much money on the military makes 100% perfect sense and is very sustainable.

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  • (Score: 2) by Arik on Tuesday October 08 2019, @06:15AM (1 child)

    by Arik (4543) on Tuesday October 08 2019, @06:15AM (#903986) Journal
    "Not sure if you are just repeating DPRK's propaganda ..... but you do realize that this is idea that DPRKs dictators have rallied around to maintain complete control?"

    Of course I do! Do you realize why it *works*? Do you realize why these people find it credible?

    "Maybe, just maybe, you will then understand that them spending as much money on the military makes 100% perfect sense and is very sustainable"

    It really isn't. It's resulted in a very poor country becoming progressively poorer, as they spend all their money on weapons while others invest in productive things and grow progressively richer. This is not sustainable, it's never been sustainable. This is the reason the Soviet Union fell, and unlike you Kim has proven smart enough to grasp that fact.
    --
    If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2019, @02:04PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 08 2019, @02:04PM (#904074)

      I'm pretty sure this is the goal here, is to win this war without firing a shot.