SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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: 1) by Sulla on Friday April 13 2018, @06:06PM
Regardless of whether or not Trump is a positive player in this, he is responsible for it getting to this point. Why was Obama not able to get us to this point? Bush Jr? Clinton? Bush Sr? Reagan? Carter? Ford? Nixon? Johnson? Kennedy? Ike?
I would argue that Ike managed to "end" Truman's war when he brought it to a ceasefire so I will exclude faulting him. Kennedy had much bigger issues to deal with. Johnson was too busy going to war to protect DuPont assets. Nixon had to end Johnson's war but ended up opening China, a necessary thing to bring closure to the Korean War. Ford did not appear to do much of anything and Carter was not concerned with North Korea outside of trying to reduce troop levels in South Korea. I would argue that Reagan had bigger fish to fry. Bush Sr should have dealt with North Korea but I don't think he cared, NK had no assets that we wanted to own and so why waste money putting them down. Clinton also could have worked with NK to try and end the war but he did not. Bush tried (to some extent) by giving them food aid without stipulations on internal NK policy in hopes to build better relations, this failed with Kim Jung Il died. Obama also could have worked to end the war in NK but he did not.
So lets look at Trump. Trump continued to ratchet up the pressure on NK with escalating threats and tariffs, really putting NK to the wall. With the US looking like it really wanted to get in on this fight the Chinese were forced to intervene to avoid conflict and the South Koreans had a chance to extend an olive branch.
Trump has done more than any president since Nixon to try to end the Korean War.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam