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.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Hartree on Monday July 01 2019, @01:31AM (10 children)
Yeah, yeah. Kumbaya and they all lived happily ever after.
Forgive me, but if I thought about their love children, my brain might shrivel.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @02:30AM (1 child)
What are "love children"?
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Monday July 01 2019, @04:21AM
Normally I'd say LMGTFY or some such, but in this case it's just better not to know.
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Monday July 01 2019, @03:23AM
Thanks. Now that is an image I didn't need to have stuck in my head.
SoylentNews is Bacon! [nueskes.com]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Rupert Pupnick on Monday July 01 2019, @11:58AM
It’s pure political theater brought to the world by two of it’s biggest egos. Non-story, and nothing will come of it.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday July 01 2019, @03:18PM (2 children)
Medically impossible, I think.
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(Score: 2) by Hartree on Tuesday July 02 2019, @01:13AM (1 child)
"Medically impossible, I think."
At the moment, maybe. Given how fast biotech is advancing, are you sure you want to make that bet for the long term?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday July 02 2019, @01:25PM
With enough technology and tampering, anything might be possible. What we have today would be considered magical only 200 years ago.
Two XY's should be able to produce either XX's or XY's. But XX's could only produce XX's. So there is some principle of discrimination at work that must be corrected.
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(Score: 4, Funny) by DeathMonkey on Monday July 01 2019, @06:03PM (2 children)
Sean Hannity, 2008 "his willingness to meet with North Korea is one of the most disturbing displays of Obama's lack of foreign policy experience."
Sean Hannity, 2018 "Trump's willingness to meet with North Korea is a huge policy win for President Trump."
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Monday July 01 2019, @07:25PM (1 child)
I'm not sure why blatant hypocrisy is necessarily Funny.
Tribe uber alles, I suppose.
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Tuesday July 02 2019, @01:09AM
"I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! "
(Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Monday July 01 2019, @01:37AM (19 children)
As far from pleased would be a number of old-guard figures in the Kim's inner-court.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @01:51AM (6 children)
Just like how the CIA funded "modern art" just because it was disliked by the kremlin for some reason. Anything those people dislike is probably a good thing for the rest of us.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/modern-art-was-cia-weapon-1578808.html [independent.co.uk]
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @05:31AM (3 children)
If true, that weapon backfired.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 01 2019, @07:57AM (2 children)
In some cases, it indeed back fired - eg when the leash was too long [wikipedia.org].
Not in all the cases, though (I'm saying this with the hope you don't call the music of Gustav Mahler or Claude Debussy [soylentnews.org] a "backfire")
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Monday July 01 2019, @11:55AM (1 child)
I wouldn’t call Mahler or Debussy backfire material, but I’d still like to read the associated link, which just gave me a 404.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 01 2019, @12:15PM
Here's the link (and my apologies for the last time, I don't know how I screwed up):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_and_the_Cultural_Cold_War#Festival_of_Twentieth-Century_Masterpieces_of_Modern_Arts [wikipedia.org]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday July 01 2019, @02:41PM (1 child)
Interesting. Any CIA connection to modern "music" ?
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(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Tuesday July 02 2019, @09:04PM
No, you can blame that solely on the suits running the big 5 (or is it 4 now?).
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday July 01 2019, @01:57AM
I am pretty sure Trump's various hawks have Iran in their sights as the election winning war.
They're probably quite happy to let Trump have his play-time now because the election is too far away. They will have another crack at Iran sometime next year.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @03:21AM
The reality is that his visit to NK was a PR stunt. He was so desperate to take the headlines away from the Democratic debates that he made an unscheduled visit to NK and Kim Jong-un (the man who writes Trump "beautiful letters").
Not that any big news came out of the debates, but they are going to continue to grab headlines because that what the primary process does (whether it is Democrats or Republicans).
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @04:55AM (6 children)
It may short circuit the hawks a bit, but it also removes what little leverage the US had previously. One of the big motivators of North Korea is international reputation. The leadership wants desperately to be taken seriously and getting a visit from the US President does that.
I see no reason why this won't just be a repeat of the past where Trump gives the North Koreans everything they want without getting anything at all in return.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 01 2019, @05:30AM
You know that saying with "doing the same all over again and expecting different results", right?
'Cause the exercise of the leverage that you mentioned is what drove US in even less leverage over the time (e.g. no matter the pressure on that lever, the Kim Jong dynasty survived and they developed nuclear weapons and means to deliver them).
Internationally, Trump's visit to NK is interpreted correctly: laudable as it may be (no rockets started to fly), it's inconsequential by itself, a gesture, just a PR stunts. More than that will have to follow.
How the North Koreans see it may be different; but then again, what the citizens of NK think/see in it has also no consequences for the world (if it would, then NK would have been a democratic country).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday July 01 2019, @03:24PM (4 children)
Does it?
I'm sure Trump already has an international reputation. One that makes him not be taken seriously -- other than the buttons of power that he can push to screw things up.
This is a guy who tweets about the "Prince of Whales". Who walks ahead of the queen. Who makes political statements and tells others how to run their country while on a state visit. Who is pictured next to dictators as much as pictured next to allies like former presidents are.
FTFY . . . Prints of Whales
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @04:09PM (3 children)
My GOD! How horrific of that man.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday July 01 2019, @04:41PM (1 child)
Yet he was graciously allowed to remain in the country.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @10:29PM
He also used the 2nd fork from the left instead of the 4th fork from the right to spear his cabbage!
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday July 02 2019, @12:24PM
I don't know enough about diplomatic protocol to know why that's bad, but i'll surmise the more eminent party should go first. if that's the case, then it would only be making the true power dynamic between the UK and US visible. like it or not, in this age Britain is a de facto vassal state in the American empire.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday July 01 2019, @02:36PM (2 children)
Yep. And now we may be witness to whether or not short-circuiting established channels and being a Twitterista has any better outcomes. I rather doubt that those figures "populating the swamp" are pleased or displeased at this phase, as no conclusions have come from it yet. 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. (Or they may go through motions to act like they are to get bargaining points). As such, while Trump did something historic, history has yet to be written on whether or not Trump's diplomacy will actually bear any meaningful fruit. If they do not de-nuclearize then the political theatre didn't work, which is how I would say this differs from Nixon and China. Showmanship aside, a hell of a lot of work was done by those outside the spotlight to make the latter a success (for certain values of success, anyway).
I'd love to be pleasantly surprised that all of this will mean anything. But Trump may desperately need to show that he has international chops beyond trying to bully other nations without regard to pissing them off. His critics have plenty to lay on him at this point. He'll probably hang his "success" at foreign policy on NK and that he needs another term to finish the job. His work so far will appeal to his base, but let's see if that's enough to swing him a second term.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Monday July 01 2019, @02:59PM (1 child)
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]
----
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday July 01 2019, @04:04PM
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....)
This sig for rent.
(Score: 1, Troll) by ilPapa on Monday July 01 2019, @02:10AM (7 children)
Donald Trump is the cuck of the entire world. They realize that the fat degenerate in the White House is a weakling and they're all lining up to take advantage.
Nobody's going to give up anything, because they know Trump's just going to back down and show up on their doorstep, hat in hand, with a boom box playing "In Your Eyes".
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @02:21AM (1 child)
You love being abused by the deep state.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @04:19AM
And you love being abused by your priest. What's your point?
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @02:49AM (4 children)
I thought that was Barry Soretto sending billions in cash to Iran or illegally running guns to his favorite cartels south of the border.
(Score: 2) by ilPapa on Monday July 01 2019, @06:42AM (3 children)
Who?
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 01 2019, @08:39AM (2 children)
My guess? Twas intended as a pejorative name for Barrack Obama, with the effect ruined by typo.
Probable source in the misinformation of the time [snopes.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by ilPapa on Monday July 01 2019, @03:02PM (1 child)
Are you sure? I think "Barry Soretto" was Vin Diesel's character in the Fast & Furious movies.
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 01 2019, @03:12PM
Wikipedia says that would be Dominic Toretto [wikipedia.org].
(I watched the movie once, in one of my "bad-Friday-night-movies-binge" when video rentals were still a thing, I needed wikipedia for a refresh).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Interesting) by archfeld on Monday July 01 2019, @02:22AM (13 children)
What if in the moment that Kim Jong-Un stepped into South Korea, one of the sentinels took 'the shot' and blew the little clowns head off for illegally crossing the border. I wonder if the so-called spontaneous act was in fact rehearsed and pre-approved or he did in fact cross the DMZ into a country he was at war with ? Now before anyone get their panties in a bunch I am not actually advocating the act, but that is the strange way my brain is wired and my obviously dysfunctional sense of humor works.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @02:28AM (12 children)
We are possibly witnessing the rolling back of the most evil organization to ever exist (the US MIC) starting from the origin and that's what you think about?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @02:51AM (4 children)
But didn’t you hear? Orange man bad!
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @03:47AM (1 child)
Anybody who wants to roll back the MIC is an incel.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @04:16AM
Only crazy boomers talk about MIC, not millennial incels. They either don't know about it or are ok with it as long as it burns the world down.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @04:15PM (1 child)
Have you been living under a rock? Did they never teach you how to read, only copy/paste "orange man bad"? Do you even possess higher brain functions?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday July 01 2019, @04:50PM
Have you been living under a rock? Haven't you learned that "Orange man bad" is the magical incantation now used on all online forums when embarrassingly true things are said about the great orange jackass which cannot be rebutted? It is like uttering "fake news". A magic wand that discredits whatever it is in reply to.
All politicians have bad things said about them. It comes with the job. But Trump must be handled with special sensitivity.
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(Score: 2) by archfeld on Monday July 01 2019, @02:53AM (3 children)
How do you rank evil organizations ? Is North Korea more evil than say Genghis, or Chairman Mao, or Cortez the conqueror, or Torquemada, or the Nazi war machine, or the KKK, or Stalin, or maybe the ultimately insidious group the Girl Scouts of America, mmmm Samoas. Yes sadly that is the way my mind works and I make no excuses...
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Monday July 01 2019, @04:30AM
You need to re-read the GGP post. He called the US MIC the most evil organization to ever exist, not the NK's.
I don't think he's right as that's a pretty high bar to clear, but it is probably well up there in kill counts and inflicted misery.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday July 02 2019, @12:33PM (1 child)
There's a card game invented by Steve Jackson you might enjoy: Illuminati [wikipedia.org]. it's all about secret societies like the girl scouts trying to take over the world.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Tuesday July 02 2019, @08:43PM
I prefer Car Wars, and my table top RPG group have been playing GURPS for a long, long time now. I can remember hours of fun playing Chez Geek, and Give Me the Brain. I started playing D&D in grade school using the box set and I have nearly every book, supplement, and boxed set of AD&D through the 2nd generation if you know anyone who is looking :)
Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you...
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Monday July 01 2019, @03:02AM (1 child)
Wishful thinking (or wet dreams).
Short of bloody revolutions, no power structure that developed over decades to consume society weath at large have ever been rolled back in a short time. When it did, it did through ways that led to an almost total collapse of that society.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday July 01 2019, @04:52PM
True. And worrisome.
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(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday July 01 2019, @02:53PM
Under the tender, enlightened guidance of North Korea, no doubt. I guess you're just another person with a broken definition of "evil".
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @02:39AM (2 children)
Yes, he does sit a lot.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @06:53AM (1 child)
Trump is not "Chief Sitting Bull" he is "Chief Talking Bull".
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday July 01 2019, @02:46PM
Not mutually exclusive.
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(Score: 3, Funny) by el_oscuro on Monday July 01 2019, @03:26AM (8 children)
... Oh wait
SoylentNews is Bacon! [nueskes.com]
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @04:08AM
No open wifi in .kp
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @04:34AM (6 children)
Wouldn't it be hilarious if it turned out realDonaldTrump (6614) really was the Donald, and he was using SN as a test ground.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday July 01 2019, @04:54AM (1 child)
You'll have to tickle me to laugh at this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Informative) by Pslytely Psycho on Monday July 01 2019, @05:34AM
Well, ya gotta admit, if it weren't for the spelling, grammar, and coherency, he very well could be...
Our RDT seems to never have a Covfefe moment..
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday July 01 2019, @02:52PM (3 children)
I was wondering about realDonaldTrump the other day. Crickets.
Wasn't RDT pushing links to some site, or SMS or something? (sorry I don't remember and didn't pay much attention)
I have also been asked several times on SN if I were RDT, and the answer is NO. I have only ever had this one SN account as of this post. I almost never post anonymously, no matter what I have to say. I've only done it a few times, and usually only when it somehow makes the post funny.
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(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 01 2019, @03:37PM (2 children)
Probably got all touchy when his sock puppet accounts started getting a lot of flak. It isn't nearly as fun when people are pointing out the cheating.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday July 01 2019, @04:39PM
Interesting. Somehow I am blissfully unaware. Flak? Sockpuppets? Cheating? Oh my. Somebody has too much time on their hands.
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(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday July 01 2019, @05:09PM
I certainly hope so!
(Score: 2) by mendax on Monday July 01 2019, @08:00PM
The Donald has set foot in North Korea. He should have stayed there and moved in with his buddy Kim. Then we'd be rid of him.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.