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Post by Admin on Mar 9, 2019 17:40:51 GMT
A top Trump administration official has all but admitted that the US stance toward North Korea talks is now a hardline one.
What this means, some analysts say, is that the American position will sink any chance for progress in US-North Korea negotiations over ending its nuclear program.
In a briefing with reporters on Wednesday, a senior State Department official made a stunning remark when asked if the Trump administration agrees on how to handle the complexities of talks with North Korea.
“Nobody in the administration advocates a step-by-step approach,” the official said. “In all cases, the expectation is a complete denuclearization of North Korea as a condition for all the other steps ... being taken.” In other words, for Pyongyang to receive any kind of benefits like sanctions relief, it has to dismantle its entire nuclear arsenal first.
That contrasts greatly with the administration’s past stance and immediately led experts to pan the comment — and the Trump administration’s negotiation strategy.
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Post by Admin on Mar 30, 2019 17:28:10 GMT
On the day their talks in Hanoi collapsed last month, US President Donald Trump handed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a piece of paper that included a blunt call for the transfer of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and bomb fuel to the United States, according to a document seen by Reuters news agency. Trump gave Kim both Korean and English-language versions of the US position at Hanoi's Metropole hotel on February 28, according to a source familiar with the discussions, speaking on condition of anonymity. It was the first time that Trump himself had explicitly defined what he meant by denuclearisation directly to Kim, the source said. A joint lunch for the two leaders was cancelled the same day. While neither side has presented a complete account of why the summit collapsed, the document may help explain it. The document's existence was first mentioned by NSA John Bolton in television interviews he gave after the two-day summit. Bolton did not disclose in those interviews the pivotal US expectation contained in the document that North Korea should transfer its nuclear weapons and fissile material to the US. The document appeared to represent Bolton's long-held and hardline "Libya model" of denuclearisation that North Korea has rejected repeatedly. It probably would have been seen by Kim as insulting and provocative, analysts said. Trump had previously distanced himself in public comments from Bolton's approach and said a "Libya model" would be employed only if a deal could not be reached.
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Post by Admin on Apr 18, 2019 17:07:59 GMT
North Korea has demanded the removal of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from nuclear talks, accusing him of "talking nonsense" and being "reckless". A senior foreign ministry official said that further talks would be "lousy" if Mr Pompeo was involved, asking that he be replaced by someone "more careful". It comes after North Korea said it had tested a new "tactical guided weapon". The test is the first since a February summit in Hanoi between the countries' leaders ended without an agreement. Mr Pompeo visited North Korea four times last year - including for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
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Post by Admin on May 31, 2019 17:39:11 GMT
North Korea executed its special nuclear envoy to the United States as part of a purge of senior officials over the failed summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper claimed Friday.
Kim Hyok Chol was executed by firing squad in March along with four other foreign ministry officials, the paper reported, citing an unidentified North Korean source.
North Korea neither confirmed nor denied the report. South Korea's government was not able to confirm the claim. Previous media reports about the fate of North Korean officials who have fallen afoul of Pyongyang's leader have proven to be false.
Chosun Ilbo is one of South Korea's largest daily newspapers. However, it's notoriously difficult to get information out of North Korea because it closely guards secrets.
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Post by Admin on Aug 10, 2019 19:07:20 GMT
President Trump said Saturday that he plans to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "in the not too distant future," alluding to a third possible summit between the two leaders to discuss denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Trump tweeted early Saturday that Kim had sent him a letter seeking a meeting to start negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang following the conclusion of the United States's joint exercises with South Korea. "It was a long letter, much of it complaining about the ridiculous and expensive exercises," Trump wrote, adding that Kim apologized for testing short range missiles and claimed the "testing would stop when the exercises end." "I look forward to seeing Kim Jong Un in the not too distant future! A nuclear free North Korea will lead to one of the most successful countries in the world!" he added.
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