Reuters: Nations to consider more North Korea sanctions, U.S. warns on military option
VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Twenty nations agreed on Tuesday to consider tougher sanctions to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Pyongyang it could trigger a military response if it did not choose negotiations.
A U.S.-hosted meeting of countries that backed South Korea during the 1950-53 Korea War also vowed to support renewed dialogue between the two Koreas “in hopes that it leads to sustained easing of tensions” and agreed that a diplomatic solution to the crisis was both essential and possible.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has refused to give up development of nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States in spite of increasingly severe U.N. sanctions, raising fears of a new war on the Korean peninsula.
The United States and Canada co-hosted the day-long meeting in Vancouver to discuss ways to increase pressure on Kim.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: China is not impressed by the results of this summit .... China accuses US of "Cold War thinking" with North Korea summit (CBS News). As to what is my take .... after the latest UN sanctions were imposed last month, the North Koreans have shifted policy to deal directly with South Korea .... US-led meeting urges more pressure on North Korea despite North-South detente (The Japan Times). And while these North Korean moves are purely symbolic .... BREAKING NEWS: North and South Korea agree to form their first joint Olympic team and march together in opening ceremony (Daily Mail), the Japanese are right that this is just another attempt by North Korea to take discussions on the missile and nuclear programs out of the spotlight .... Japan warns over North Korean 'charm offensive' (BBC).
More News On 20 Nations Agreeing In Vancouver To Increase Pressure On North Korea
Korean War allies consider further sanctions against North Korea -- Deutsche Welle
Tillerson encourages talks with North Korea but says regime could 'trigger an option' -- NBC
Tillerson Warns Threat of North Korea War Growing Despite Talks -- Bloomberg
US meets Korean War allies, wants more pressure on North Korea -- Chicago Tribune
20 nations will consider more sanctions against North Korea as the US warns Pyongyang to accept a diplomatic option -- Business Insider
3 comments:
This joint Olympic team that South Korea agrees to leaves the US looking like we are the aggressor, not the protector of the South. South Korea's leadership is gullible, and is falling for this 'grooming.' Perhaps the US should just reduce our trade with the South, withdraw our military from the Peninsula and let nature have it's way. Why should Americans spend blood and treasure to protect the South when they want reunification anyway?
Anon,
I've been making variations of this argument here and elsewhere. Be careful though someone may accuse you of being un-American or of being Russian.
Frankly this is a very good argument. Furthermore a strong case could be made that if we were freed from the yoke of South Korea we would be in a much better position to negotiate a peace agreement between ourselves and ourselves and North Korea. Also, being freed from the southt Korean yoke would mean we would have more flexibility and more options at our disposal during a military engagement with North Korea.
You state the South Korean leadershio is "gullible." The problem may be much worse. According to a survey in the mid 2000s 33% of South Korean military officers believed the US to be the main enemy, 34% believed the main enemy to be North Korea, and apparently the other 33% are undecided. Given the rampant anti-Americanism throughout the world, it seems unlikely these numbers would have changed for the better for America in the last 10 to 12 years. Furthermore I think it reasonable to assume these attitudes are going to be similar accross the non officer military personnel, the civilian leadership, and the populace as a whole.
This is not a trustworthy ally. There is a high degree of probability of them betraying us. This is something that should keep POTUS and other US leaders up at night.
At a minimum, no one has adequately explained to us why 10s of millions of Americans need to die for these chumps. Come to think of it, if "nature takes it course," it's the end of South Korea (no real loss), the peninsula is unified, and the need for a "buffer" is now solved. The Chinese can have their f'ing century and America will be well positioned to prosper in it.
As a master deal maker, I think POTUS is well aware of much of this. Unfortunately he appears to be to trusting of the South Korean leadership. For the most part though his diplomacy here apoears to me to be genius.
As stated at the end of the previous post, POTUS's diplomatic efforts, while much can still go wrong, look to be the stuff of genius so far. As of September 2016, I had told several friends "war within six months." Essentially we were being backed into a corner and would have no choice. Remeber war means 10s of millions of Americans dead with no guarantee of ultimate victory especially if Russia and China are involved which would have been all but certain as of 9/2016 victory is even more problematic. As such, this diplomatic effort is well worth persuing. As an added bonus, it allows us time to build up our military and bolster our homeland security.
As for the diplomatic effort, 1.)even Russia and China have agreed to sanctions that are going to become even more crippling, 2.)China has cut trade by about 50% with North Korea, 3.)China has said they'd only come to the military aid of North Korea if it is attacked, 4.)When faced with a situation where it cannot count on the unconditional rock solid support of China and Russia it agrees to these meetings as the noose around it is tightening, 5.)North Korean diplomats have suggested attacking America would be sucidal adding further corroboration that their support system has eroded and continues to erode, and 6.)20 nations have agreed to a meeting on this where in the past such unity would have been unthinkable.
So far these are all good positive steps but as stated much can still go wrong. With that said I'm now cautiously optimistic we can avoid war. If so, does POTUS receive a much desrved Nobel Peace Prize? I doubt the powers that be are willing to go that far but we get a lasting peace and those directly involved know what really happened.
You expressed concern about the optics of the Olympic meeting, I'm not worried about. Se are already hated anyway. This wouldn't make much difference and it strokes Kkm Jong Un's ego. Essentially this combined with very likely some back level arm twisting by China and perhaps POTUS hinself it gets him to the table. Furthermore it stokes the ego's of South Korea's leaders. As I've stated elsewhere, we MUST be directly in the loop on all negotiations.
With regards to point 6, should Russia and China have sent delegations now their leaders would have almost certainly faced a coup with leadership more supportive of NK replacing them. In which case diplomacy is dead and I've already explained the dire consequenses of that. As such, cautious movement is necessary
Furthermore US officials are keeping top Russian and Chinese officials apprised of everything. A top US official confirmed this. While a top Russian official denied this, this is likely for show only. Remember neither us nor them want a couo against tgem right now. Also, China has allowed the meeting to go forward demonstrating their tacit support for the process. They could have very easiky hit all participants with crippling economic sanctions stopping the meeting before it started. They didn't because they actually support this effort.
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