North Korean leader Ri Son Gwon (right) shakes hands with his South Korean counterpart Cho Myoung-gyon during their meeting on the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, January 9, 2018. REUTERS/Korea Pool
Peter Apps, Reuters: Why Kim Jong Un wanted the Korea talks
Last year Kim Jong Un shocked the world with the unexpected speed of his nuclear missile development, his brutal crackdown on apparent rivals and suspicions that he ordered the assassination of his half-brother with a chemical nerve agent. This year, the North Korean leader is opening January with a diplomatic offensive – but that doesn’t mean a change of strategy.
North Korean officials met their southern counterparts on Tuesday for the first such talks in two years. The outcome was an agreement to send a delegation to the Winter Olympics being hosted by South Korea next month as well as to hold military-to-military talks.
Openness to dialogue is, of course, a mildly positive signal. None of that, however, means North Korea has any intention of slowing its drive for evermore powerful nuclear missiles and warheads, specifically those that would allow it to hit the United States. Instead, Pyongyang appears to be pursuing a deliberate and increasingly successful strategy to drive a wedge between Washington and South Korea.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: We know that North Korea is not going to give up its nuclear and missile programs .... so why the decision to enter talks anywayP The answer is to buy time, stop the momentum for more sanctions, and to test how strong is the U.S. - South Korean relationship. But the real question that should be asked is .... why did South Korea push to have these talks (peace during the Olympics?), and what was the price for the North Koreans to come and sit at the table.
7 comments:
It's to be secure at least until the Olympics are over...enough time to prepare ten warheads
South Korea does not want war. I've read from all you. Correct me if I'm wrong. That south Korea pays the biggest price. They are banking on change, which will never happen. Unless they are at peace and not war status. Then this is just folly attempt on South Korea part. Fool me once quote, but it always helps to try, but with a sicko like North Korean leader. Never going to happen. So Editor, I'm going to say just for giggles. What would you do.
AZuLike,
You asked the editor "what would you do?" The editor can answer for himself.
As to what I would do, if your "take" on this is correct, I would drop South Korea like a rock. It's bad enough to play games that they endanger the lives of their own people. It's even worse that their little stunt is endangering the lives of the American people. Once freed from South Korea, we would be in a much better position to deal with the North Korean problem in a manner consistent with American interests.
Now as for my "take" on this, why did Kim Jong Un want the talks? He had no choice. The noose around him is tightening. With China and Russia agreeing to sanctions, the US and South Korea more openly carrying out joint military training, countries such as Japan and South Korea expanding their military capabilities, Japan making noises about abandoning their antiquated pacifist constitution, South Korea pondering THAAD,
while rejecting the notion of US nuclear weapons in South Korea, it was briefly considered by their government, sanctions that are scheduled to get tougher, and support for North Korea among Russia and China is not as rock solid as it once was means Kim Jong Un are in a bad spot that is only going to get worse.
Why do it now during the Olympics? He has no choice. He's running out of options. In such a public forum he can look like a man of peace. Much of the rhetoric now is trying to save face. South Korea looks quite good too!! Real peace talks durung the Olympics, can't beat that for optics!!
I'm sure Kim would like to buy time to try and figure something out and perhaps see if he can increase his country's military capability. This works both ways actually. The US now may have some time to increase it's military capabilities and enhance it's homeland security. We've been given a huge blessing of more time should diplomacy fail. We need to avail ourselves of this opportunity!!
There is still much that can go wrong. Cornered animals often are hard to control and lash out. There may be a South Korean betrayal of America. While North Korea has not made any steps to agree to give up it's nuclear arsenal yet, we are still early in these negotiations and face must be saved. At some point, the US will face tremendous pressure to give up its nuclear deterrent and if it refuses to do so it will face crippling economic sanctions. We must resist this pressure with every ounce of our being!! Also, Russia and China could change leadership to personnel who are strongly pro-North Korea. They've been allies for a very long time. As such, it seems highly likely that there are factions who don't agree with the current direction.
As stated in the previous post, my "take" is Kim Jong Un has no choice here. His situation has gone from beyond awesome to bad to very bad and only going to get worse.
As of this morning before seeing this article, I had the thought of what it would mean for North Korea if the diplonatic process fails. 1.) A nuclear armed South Korea, 2.) a strengthened South Korean conventional military force capable of standng up to North Korea on its own without American support, 3.) the withdrawal of US forces from South Korea, and 4.) the US freed from the tether of South Korea has more options at it's disposal on all levels to deal with any North Korean problem.
As I stated, North Korea has few options and what options they have are dwindling fast. I'm sure this is well understood by Kim and for emphasis has been communicated to him. As of this evening, president Trump, while being non-committal suggested such communication may be taking place or have taken place.
Now what does an attack on America mean? China would almost certainly be held partially responsible. While the United States would likely be crippled, America's military response will likely cripple China meaning their dream of a Chinese century is over.
My "take" could be wrong but I would not be so quick to give up on the diplomatic process. It does at least buy us some time to build up our military capabilities and bolster our homeland defenses so we are ready if ithe diplomatic process dies fail.
A question I might ask is what price had to be paid to get China and Russia on board with sanctions? I'm sure that price was high. Given that their assistance is essential to make this work and tbe survival of 10s of millions of Americans may be jn danger if it doesn't, I'm sure the price was steep. Also, I'm sure any concessions to Russia especially would need to be kept secret for now as even the mere suggestion of perhaps treating Russians in a civilized manner is met with hysterical melt down by the chattering class and the political elites.
AzuLike.
I have a commentary on North Korea later tonight. The best thing to do is to do what is being done now. Economic sanctions across the board. It may not change North Korean policy, but it will bleed their nuclear/missile programs enough to delay it for a few more years until something breaks.
https://www.rt.com/news/415592-us-bombers-airmen-guam/
It won't bleed their programme dry, the programme is most likely months away from being active, if u.s intelligence miscalculation is anything to go by it may well already be able to survive reentry and hit u.s or its territories.
Post a Comment