BBC: North Korea will send team to the Olympic Games
North Korea has said it will send a delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, taking place in South Korea in February, says Seoul.
The breakthrough announcement came as the countries met for their first high-level talks in more than two years.
The delegation will include athletes, officials and a cheer squad.
South Korea also proposed holding family reunions during the Winter Olympics for people separated by the Korean War
The issue is a highly emotional one for both countries, and South Korea has constantly been pushing for more reunions to take place.
Read more ....
More News On Reports That North Korea Will Be Sending Athletes To Next Month's Olympics In South Korea
North Korea holds talks with South at the DMZ: Live updates -- CNN
North Korea to send athletes, cheer squad to Winter Olympics: South Korea -- Reuters
Seoul: North Korea to send delegation to Olympics in South -- AP
N. Korea offers to attend Olympics in talks with South -- AFP
North Korea to Send Athletes to Olympics in South Korea in Breakthrough -- New York Times
North Korea agrees to send athletes to South Korea Olympics -- NBC
North Korea to send a team to the Winter Olympics after talks with South Korea: Reports -- Washington Times
5 comments:
How awesome would it be if the Koreas, after all this time were to come together and start co-operating together to restore ties and stop the hate... long stretch sure but just imagine for one moment what that would mean for the global rhetoric.
We can only hope.
Right now this appears to be some of the most brilliant diplomacy ever engaged in world history by team Trump. There is still much that can go wrong but, as of this writing, this appears to be the stuff of brilliance by President Trump and his team.
First of all candidate Trump cajoled South Korea, Japan, and a number of others to carry their own weight on defense correctly pointing out that these are very rich countries who need to do more to cover their own defense needs. Now we see Japan boosting its military spending and even making noises about revising its antiquated pacifist constitution ratified at the end of WWII. The we see South Korea stepping up joint operations with America, even talking about the possibility of allowing US nuclear weapons to be stationed on their soil, and entertaining the possibility of THAAD. Those possibilities would have been rejected outright without even the start of discussions in times past. Furthermore South Korea appears to be looking to add to its indigenous military capabilities. This would not have been considered either.
President Trump has discussed the need for China to help us with North Korea. Recently China and Russia agreed to some very tough sanctions on North Korea that are only scheduled to get tougher. It would have been very easy with minimal to no cost to simply veto the sanctions. While the enforcement is not always what we would like, keep in mind for China and Russia, imposition of or agreeing to any kind of sanctions would have been unthinkable.
When faced with regional powers such as Japan and South Korea who are behaving more assertively combined with less than enthusiastic support by traditional allies like China and Russia and add in sanctions against the country that are scheduled to get tougher that have been agreed by traditional allies, all of a sudden North Korean leadership has to realize they can no longer act with impunity given current trends. In this environment, they may well be saying among themselves, "let's get to the negotiating table fast and negotiate and honorable peace with our southern neighbor. Lets do it now before things become even worse for us."
While I could be wrong and there still is much that can go wrong and I might be misreading this, this certainly looks one of the most brilliant acts of diplomacy in world history put together by team Trump. If it succeeds, will he and his team get the credit? If the media has anything to say about it, probably not but this does not matter as long as honorable peace is achieved. Part of any agreement has to be that the United States will finally be allowed to withdraw its troops from South Korea and our humiliation in this regard will finally be over.
If the diplomatic effort does succeed given what certainly looks like a huge effort and accomplishment on the part of President Trump and his team to get things this far, there certainly should be a Nobel Prize in this for President Trump. Will he get it? Will the people who make these decisions be able to swallow their pride enough to give POTUS the honor he deserves? Somehow I think not. Actually these people would probably rather give a Nobel Prize to Kim Jong Un even though he had no desire for peace and was forced to the diplomatic table by Trump's brilliant diplomacy!! As long as we have honorable peace, this does not really matter.
This involves more than the Koreans, unless they denounce their nukes and dismantle their current programmes and stockpiles this Olympic gesture means zip.
The clock is ticking and tkd team or not unless the above happens you're going to get hit.
Fazman,
North Korea is not going to give up its nukes without some kind of forceful and not so friendly "help" from China. There may be several other possibilities. 1.)The US agrees with China on a reunified Korean Peninsula in the fashion China wants with their North Korean puppet in control. South Korea is no more. China has its "buffer." No need for a nuclear North Korea and the US FINALLY gets to see an end to its 60+ years humiliation at the hands of the South Koreans and their government. While this would not be wished on the South Korean people, their government is very treacherous. A cagey man like DJT will know this. Also, his policy of "America first" no doubt put the South Koreans and their government on notice that America will no longer be their pawns. This combined with candidate Trump's statements that South Korea needs to step up on its military readiness was bound to get someone's attention.
2.) If the US could negotiate a separate agreement with North Korea to end the conflict between us and them, this would have two huge advantages. Being untethered from South Korea we'd have many more options at our disposal for defense than we do now and we could better position ourselves as an honest broker to negotiate a lasting peace between the two Koreas.
3.) A year or so ago had hot war ensued a North Korean victory would have been all but certain with their military capabilities and Russia and China firmly behind them. Now with their alliances with Russia and China wavering, Japan, South Korea and others beefing up their military capabilities, South Korea even if tepidly agreeing to discuss things like US nuclear weapons on their soil, possible deployment of THAAD in South Korea, and sanctions signed onto by China and Russia that are scheduled to get tougher North Korea's position no longer is so secure. As such, the thinking might be "get to the negotiating table now. Get an honorable agreement while we can. In the future our prospects will be even worse." Essentially the Norks adversaries are now on a more equal footing which may change their calculations. All of this would have been unthinkable a few months ago. The diplomacy practiced by team Trump and POTUS hinself appears to have brilliant.
As to the outlines of an agreement, North Korea needs to extend security guarantees to America pledging not to attack us. The nukes need to be removed. We can't do it on our own. See point 3 above. This is going to require help from a number of others whjch may actually be coming into place thanks to some brilliant diplomacy by President Trump.
When it comes to denuclerization agreements, the US has not always been trustworthy. See Libya. Men like DJT and Rex Tillerson do not have government backgrounds and their pasts reveal them to be men of their word. Since the parties know we can we trusted, fruitful negotiation is possible.
Finally, America relationship for the last 60+ years with South Korea has been a bit like that of a man and a woman who have lived together as a couple for many years. The woman works hard to feed the family, the husband is lazy and lives off his wife's efforts, the husband is abusive both verbally and physically. South Korea has been like the abusive husband for the last 60+ years and America the abused wife. Candidate Trump put them on notice that could not and would not continue. Recent events indicate they may have gotten the message. If so better relations with them are possible.
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