North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Un meets with South Korean delegation
In a sign that he is backing off his previous and long maintained belligerent stance, North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Un met with a South Korean delegation on March 5.
The above link is a press release by a North Korean news source, so it is hardly informative. This Reuters story has some information from the South Korean delegation:
Next month, North Korea and South Korea will have the first meeting between their leaders since 2007 at the border village of Panmunjom, said Chung Eui-yong, head of the South Korean delegation. “North Korea made clear its willingness to denuclearize the Korean peninsula and the fact there is no reason for it to have a nuclear program if military threats against the North are resolved and its regime is secure,” Chung told a media briefing.
Chung cited North Korea as saying it would not carry out nuclear or missile tests while talks with the international community were under way. North Korea has not carried out any such tests since last November. North Korea also is willing to discuss normalizing ties with the United States, Chung said.
This sudden willingness to talk, after more than a decade of war talk, strongly suggests that Trump’s hardline position, which subsequently forced China and others to follow, has had an effect.
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The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
In a sign that he is backing off his previous and long maintained belligerent stance, North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Un met with a South Korean delegation on March 5.
The above link is a press release by a North Korean news source, so it is hardly informative. This Reuters story has some information from the South Korean delegation:
Next month, North Korea and South Korea will have the first meeting between their leaders since 2007 at the border village of Panmunjom, said Chung Eui-yong, head of the South Korean delegation. “North Korea made clear its willingness to denuclearize the Korean peninsula and the fact there is no reason for it to have a nuclear program if military threats against the North are resolved and its regime is secure,” Chung told a media briefing.
Chung cited North Korea as saying it would not carry out nuclear or missile tests while talks with the international community were under way. North Korea has not carried out any such tests since last November. North Korea also is willing to discuss normalizing ties with the United States, Chung said.
This sudden willingness to talk, after more than a decade of war talk, strongly suggests that Trump’s hardline position, which subsequently forced China and others to follow, has had an effect.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Kim’s change in behavior has less to do with responding to Trump’s actions as it has to do with the DPRK using “useful idiots” in the South to make the world naively believe there is a chance at a peaceful solution thereby allowing it more time to scale up its ICBM force and removing an immediate excuse for Trump (after the midterm election) to build up forces in preparation for attack thereby giving the US the amount of leverage to negotiate a favorable outcome on our terms or to remove the growing threat to us by force. It’s like game theory.
I wouldn’t trust Kim Jong Un as far as I could throw him and I’m surprised you’re putting so much confidence in press releases from his government.
Andrew_W: I agree with you. I am skeptical. However, my job is to report this meeting and the subsequent planned summit. I also must note that it still is a significant change in Kim Jong Un’s behavior, after more than a decade.
The media has been spinning this as a victory for South Korean diplomacy that was made all the harder due to Trump.
The Trump admin is skeptical of these new talks too, which is a good thing. Previous Presidents would take the talks as a victory and then stop the pressure. Will the Trump admin fall for this old trick by the North Koreans?
Dear Dictator Kim,
I am offering you a chance to survive. Simply provide all all chemical, biological and nuclear arms to my military representatives for safe disposal – tomorrow. Further, simply permit full inspection of any location, at any time, without delay within North Korea.
The United States offered this generous deal to a former dictator named Sadam. He refused and was captured in a small hole in the ground and later hung by his countrymen.
This is a limted time offer.
Sincerely,
Donald Trump
President of the United States
(Very different president than all the previous ones)