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Post by Admin on Oct 3, 2019 5:58:50 GMT
Here’s the offer, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations: The United Nations would suspend sanctions on Pyongyang’s textile and coal exports for 36 months in exchange for the verifiable closure of the Yongbyon nuclear facility and another measure, most likely the end of North Korea’s uranium enrichment. It’s a risky but reasonable move, experts tell me. Reasonable because asking North Korea to completely dismantle its nuclear program before receiving sanctions relief — as the Trump administration has since the start of nuclear talks — was likely always going to be rejected by Pyongyang. What’s more, Yongbyon is the “heart” of the country’s nuclear program and tearing down its many facilities would greatly blunt Kim Jong Un’s arsenal. It’s a risky proposal, though, because North Korea could continue to improve its weaponry over the three-year period. Experts in the US and South Korea also say it will take much more than three years to verifiably destroy all the nuclear facilities, documents, and other materials at Yongbyon — assuming international inspectors are granted the requisite access at all. It’s unclear if North Korean negotiators will accept this offer. When President Donald Trump met Kim in Hanoi earlier this year, Kim wanted nearly all sanctions lifted in exchange for Yongbyon’s closure. This proposal sees fewer penalties suspended while Kim would have to give more away. That said, it’s possible US negotiators will use the offer as a starting point and see how their counterparts respond, though of course American diplomats may alter the proposal between now and the weekend. It’s unlikely anything will be finalized, though, until Trump and Kim meet for yet another summit. Trump said two weeks ago that he could meet with the dictator again “soon.” But what will further complicate matters is that North Korea has visibly grown frustrated with the US handling of nuclear talks — and it’s made a bad situation even worse.
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Post by Admin on Oct 3, 2019 18:15:18 GMT
Trump made promises to Kim that he didn’t keep North Korea launched what appears to be a submarine-launched missile on Tuesday night, which flew further than any other projectile in two years. It’s a sign that Pyongyang is angry with the lack of progress, and there may be a good reason why.
According to two sources, Trump made two concrete promises to Kim during their June summit at the Panmunjom peace village at the inter-Korean border. First, Trump reiterated his vow to sign an end-of-war declaration that would formally say the US and North Korea are no longer at war. That’s a fairly simple step to take, as it recognizes both countries haven’t fought since the 1950s and it would give Kim the ability to tell US-skeptics at home that he might not need as big a nuclear arsenal.
But the second promise may have mattered much more: Trump told Kim that he’d cancel a joint military exercise with South Korea planned just weeks after third summit. Trump has long questioned the need for those drills, mainly because he thinks they’re too big and the US spends a lot of money on them. But after multiple military aides told Trump that the Dong Maeng exercise was really a smaller-scale simulation, he relented and let it take place August.
Pyongyang had warned ahead of time that both nations shouldn’t proceed. “The US is attempting to stage joint military drills ‘DongMaeng 19-2’ with South Korea, violating the commitment made at the top level,” a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on July 16. It’s very possible the “top level” refers to Trump.
Which means that North Korea’s decision to conduct its most aggressive test in two years may in part have been a message to the president: do what you promised — or else.
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Post by Admin on Oct 7, 2019 18:01:53 GMT
North Korea has angrily walked away from working-level nuclear talks with the United States, with Pyongyang's top negotiator saying Saturday he was "greatly disappointed" with Washington's inflexible approach. The quick breakdown of the first substantive nuclear negotiations in months raises the possibility North Korea will intensify its provocations, days after testing a new medium-range ballistic missile designed to be launched from a submarine. But the North's decision to walk away may amount to little more than a rehash of a long-standing negotiating tactic meant to raise pressure on the U.S., some analysts say, predicting Pyongyang may soon return to the talks. After a day of negotiations on the outskirts of Stockholm, Sweden, North Korea's top nuclear envoy, Kim Myong Gil, blamed the failure of the talks on Washington's "old stance and attitude."
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Post by Admin on Oct 12, 2019 17:45:12 GMT
President Trump, speaking at the White House, said: “We’ve come to a very substantial phase one deal”...adding it will take three to five weeks to get written. The deal includes intellectual property, financial services and $40-$50 billion related to agriculture products. It is unclear what the U.S will give up in return and a comprehensive trade deal will have two or three phases.
The U.S. will not be raising tariffs on the Chinese next week to the 30 percent level as part of this agreement.
U.S. stocks spiked to the highs of the session, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising by nearly 500 points, before pulling back slightly at the close. The move signals the third major trade deal President Trump has sealed.
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Post by Admin on Dec 9, 2019 18:02:24 GMT
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may change his views toward U.S. President Donald Trump if he continues making "inappropriate, dangerous" comments, a senior Pyongyang official said on Monday, calling him an "impatient, old man."
Kim Yong Chol, a senior North Korean official who was instrumental in arranging a failed second summit between Kim Jong Un and Trump, said the United States was ignoring a year-end deadline set for Washington to soften its stance in stalled denuclearisation talks.
"We have nothing more to lose," he said in a statement carried by state news KCNA.
Trump said on Sunday Kim risks losing "everything" if he resumes hostility and his country must denuclearise, after the North said it had carried out a "successful test of great significance."
Trump tweeted: "Kim Jong Un is too smart and has far too much to lose, everything actually, if he acts in a hostile way. He signed a strong Denuclearization Agreement with me in Singapore," referring to his first summit with Kim in Singapore in 2018.
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