from the he-would-say-that-wouldn't-he dept.
North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-un has visited Beijing for his first known trip outside of North Korea since he took power in 2011:
North Korea's enigmatic young leader, Kim Jong-un, made an unannounced visit to Beijing, meeting with President Xi Jinping weeks before planned summit meetings with American and South Korean leaders, Chinese and North Korean state news media reported on Wednesday.
[...] Mr. Kim made the trip to China at the invitation of Mr. Xi, North Korea's state-run Korean Central Television reported soon after the announcement in China. Mr. Kim was accompanied by his wife, Ri Sol-ju, as well as by his senior advisers, it said.
Mr. Kim told the Chinese leader that he was open to dialogue with the United States, including a potential summit meeting with President Trump, and was committed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, according to an account published by China's news agency Xinhua.
"If South Korea and the United States respond with good will to our efforts and create an atmosphere of peace and stability, and take phased, synchronized measures to achieve peace, the issue of the denuclearization of the peninsula can reach resolution," Mr. Kim said, according to Xinhua's summary of his meeting with Mr. Xi.
Experts remain cynical:
Yang Xiyu, one of China's leading experts on North Korea, said that Mr. Kim was clearly trying to repair the North's deeply strained relations with Beijing, its traditional ally and benefactor, while opening new ties with its enemy South Korea. Even so, Mr. Yang said, that did not signal that Mr. Kim was willing to give up his nuclear arsenal, though he has told South Korean envoys that he was prepared to discuss the possibility. "He is starting a new game where he could make concessions on denuclearization," Mr. Yang said. "At most, he will cut the grass, but he will not pull out the roots."
Also at Reuters and Bloomberg.
See also: How does Kim tell North Korea he's giving up nuclear weapons?
(Score: 0, Troll) by jmorris on Wednesday March 28 2018, @04:00PM (14 children)
Who the heck knows what is going on here, but Trump seems to have a plan. He knows the only way to avoid widespread proliferation and escape the trap Obama put us in is to break either North Korea or Iran. Either one will do so he has been pushing hard on both to see which one is weakest. With most of the actual deal making happening out of sight and all sides posturing and spinning madly we won't know what is really happening until this situation reaches a resolution one way or the other.
Optimal solution would be to reunify Korea of course, but can't quite see that happening. Would be hilarious though to get a formal end to the Korean War. Watching the "International Community" have to admit Trump did what they all assured everyone was impossible and hand him a Nobel Peace Prize would be fall down funny. Even better would be opening that place up enough to find all the crooked shit that has been hidden away in the "hermit kingdom." Way too many really rich people been coming and going from what is to all public appearance an uninteresting shithole.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @04:12PM (3 children)
"Trump" and "plan" do NOT belong together in the same sentence.
Break? Like we broke Iraq? Lovely.
I've learned from the work world you cannot get rid of all jerks and must learn to coexist with them. That's life, in the small and the big. Just because you want a pony does not mean you always get a pony.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Wednesday March 28 2018, @04:43PM (1 child)
Trump has been replacing the more reasonable members of his cabinet with warmongers.
Put enough warmongers in a room, give them an army, and an economy very dependent on the weapons industry, and you're gonna end up with a war somewhere.
Especially when that war will benefit the US, given the geography of some of the biggest competitors.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Thexalon on Wednesday March 28 2018, @09:15PM
Plus one of the apparent rules of US politics is that if you start a war, your popularity shoots up, regardless of how stupid and pointless that war may be. For example, the two biggest jumps in George W Bush's approval rating were (1) September 2001, where he got a 40% boost by being so incompetent that terrorists succeeded in an attack that they'd been explicitly warned about, and (2) March 2003, where he got about a 12% increase in support just after the Iraq War had started. Bill Clinton experienced a similar 10% boost in support just after he got the US involved in Kosovo. George H.W. Bush got the highest approval rating of his entire presidency right in the middle of the Gulf War.
Americans who express support for the president in wartime out of a sense of loyalty or patriotism? You're basically pushing our presidents to start wars regardless of whether they're really necessary or justified. You're costing your nation billions of dollars, and frequently thousands of lives, so that some folks back in Washington can feel better about themselves. Good job, morons.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Thursday March 29 2018, @12:37AM
Huh? What have you been smoking? Trump has plans. He plans to build a wall. He plans to restrict trade. He plans to divest in global warming commitments, etc.
Whether you agree to it or whether you think it'll work is another matter.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday March 28 2018, @04:41PM (1 child)
It's likely that Jinping gave Kum his marching orders. China and Korea are kinda, sorta, partners, after a fashion, but there is no doubt who is the senior partner. China has probably beckoned Lil Kimmy to Beijing to tell Kimmy-poo what is expected of him during the summit. "We won't give the Americans everything they want, of course, but we WILL give them much of what they want regarding your weapons. Play ball, and we'll make sure you save face, and profit. Fuck up, and we'll make you pay, and pay, and pay. Remember that no one is buying your coal now? We can also fuck with all your other markets!"
(Score: 2) by arslan on Thursday March 29 2018, @12:44AM
Yea, that's likely what happen. About the only person that can bend lil Kim to their will and make him leave his lair is Emperor Xi. He was summoned, and instructed to do what would essentially be the next move, in a series of others, on Emperor's Xi chess board.
If the Kims ever had any leverage in Beijing with the factional power struggle and lobbying some of the leads, that's pretty much gone now with the consolidation of power into Emperor Xi.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Freeman on Wednesday March 28 2018, @05:05PM (2 children)
North Korea is a testament of China's dislike of America and / or Democracy. They don't dislike our money, though.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday March 28 2018, @07:48PM (1 child)
You should read some history.
North Korea was created by Stalin after World War II, China was otherwise occupied fighting their own civil war at the time. Newly communist China backed North Korea during the Korean War mostly because Douglas MacArthur was threatening to send UN forces over the border into China and would not rule out the use of nukes.
He was fired because your president at the time was frightened he was going to bring the Soviets in and start World War III.
Kim Jong Un has developed nukes and missiles because he is not stupid, and has seen what happened to the leaders of the other "Axis of Evil" states.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @07:55PM
"WE CAME, WE SAW, HE DIED! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @05:14PM (1 child)
Like who?
(Score: 2) by arslan on Thursday March 29 2018, @01:55AM
Dennis Rodman?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday March 28 2018, @05:25PM
With most of the actual deal making happening out of sight..
And who exactly is doing that deal-making?
The new number 1 guy that just got hired last week? [nytimes.com] Or the other 8 (out of 10) top State Department Jobs that are currently unfilled? [bloomberg.com]
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday March 28 2018, @07:37PM (1 child)
Hilarious. Are we still pretending Mr. Trump has any clue what goes on outside his various golf courses?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @08:55PM
You haven't seen him golf have you?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday March 28 2018, @05:07PM (3 children)
-ense.
That's why I feel that North Korea has the right to posses The Bomb and the means to deliver it.
Before the US can rightly expect North Korea to disarm it must denuclearize South Korea and its naval vessels in the surrounding oceans
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by loonycyborg on Wednesday March 28 2018, @05:11PM (2 children)
So far nuclear bombs succeeded at preventing any sort of large scale wars since WWII. And having a bomb in Korea will save many lives of Koreans since it'll discourage US and China from waging proxy wars on its territory.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 28 2018, @11:48PM (1 child)
The Saudis.
Do you really want the Wahabiists with a ton of US military tech, plus a bunch of nukes so they can start their final biblical jihad against all us infidels?
NK may be a threat to a small set of regional political groups, but SA is a potential existential threat to us all, and which one of these are we buddying up to rather than antagonizing after they have already been responsible for multiple attacks on us and our allies, South Korea not withstanding?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @03:37AM
US people should be more concerned over why the US Gov keeps being such a great enemy and threat to the USA.
p..s. Your guns aren't going to help fix your government. Especially not when the government can get millions of you to go "USA! USA! USA! We must support our soldiers etc in such times" on demand.
(Score: 2) by mendax on Wednesday March 28 2018, @10:46PM
The article says that Kim Jong Un
Hogwash. Kim is like his predecessors, Trump, and most lawyers. You can tell when they're lying because you see their lips moving. Even if a miracle occurs and he actually tells the truth, no one will believe him.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 29 2018, @01:03AM
Trump likes Kim, because Kim is one of the few heads of state who makes Trump look good by comparison. Probably, Trump's be TV days taught him to associate with people less popular than himself.