Tuesday, August 28, 2018

North Korean Letter Is The Reason For The Cancellation Of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's Trip To Pyongyang



CNN: North Korea warns Pompeo denuclearization talks are 'at stake,' sources say

Top North Korean officials warned the United States in a letter that denuclearization talks are "again at stake and may fall apart," sources familiar with the process told CNN.

The letter was delivered to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose fourth trip to Pyongyang was abruptly canceled, hours before he was scheduled to depart with his new special envoy Stephen Biegun on Friday, sources said.

Three sources with direct knowledge of the North Korean position on denuclearization said the letter stated that Kim's regime felt that the process couldn't move forward because "the US is still not ready to meet (North Korean) expectations in terms of taking a step forward to sign a peace treaty."

Read more ....

WNU Editor: There were/are many reasons on why Pompeo's trip was cancelled .... a letter is just one of them. In the meantime, the U.S. is now signalling the North Koreans to focus on resolving its issues with South Korea and Japan first .... Pompeo talks N.Korea 'next steps' with Seoul, Tokyo (AFP).

More News On A North Korean Letter Being The Reason For The Cancellation Of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's Trip To Pyongyang ast Week

North Korea tells U.S. denuclearization talks may fall apart: CNN -- Reuters
Trump reportedly canceled Pompeo's trip to North Korea after it sent a mysterious and hostile letter -- Business Insider
Trump really didn’t like the nasty letter North Korea sent Mike Pompeo -- VOX
Why Trump cancelled Pompeo’s trip to North Korea -- Washington Post

5 comments:

SCOTTYD said...

What were North Korean expectations??

Mike Feldhake said...

This is all negotiations which is still better than shooting missiles

SCOTTYD said...

If the only North Korean expectation was to sign a peace treaty with NK, I don't understand the unwillingness on the US's part. There's got to be more to it than that.

B.Poster said...

"This is all negotiations which is still better than shooting missies." Correct sir!!

This time last year war seemed all but imminent. When a new POTUS entered into office it took some time to change the trajectory of the situation. As Trump correctly pointed out, had we continued the same policies we would have had no choice but war and millions would have died.

Given that NK has begun dismantling its main missile launch site (perhaps halted) and pieces of the launcher are on the ground next to the launcher "shooting missiles" while not impossible, as they probably have other options, is going to be much harder for them now. The main issue right now appears to be how quickly NK de nukes as opposed to are they going to do so. This is indeed a BIG improvement over where we were.

With that said this still can go wrong. The diplomatic process allows us breathing space to get our military ready in case we do have to fight. Hopefully this is being put to good use.

The current situation has yielded much upside, has much more upside potential along with little downside risks, and the we haven't given up anything of material value yet. As such, when given a choice between the current approach, the previous approach, or the ridiculous critiques of the talking head pundits or the "experts" whose policies created the problems team Trump is trying to clean up now, experiential common sense would suggest go with the current approach.

B.Poster said...

Scott,

IF SK and NK want to sign a peace treaty, they will do so regardless what the US says or doesn't say. If the leadership of SK doesn't want to sign such a treaty but the populace does, I would not put it past them to hide behind "US objections." While its generally not my policy, to abandon an ally, as I have stated on this site before, I do not trust those people. If the timing is right and they feel it serves their interests, they will betray us.

In fact, during the campaign candidate Trump called out several countries by name as essentially users and abusers of American largess. SK was one of them. Essentially the message was sent that America would not be their b!tch boy and the arm of their foreign policy forever. Essentially they might want to make peace with their northern neighbor or at least try a little harder. While typically ignored by the media, I think this has much to do with why we are where we are.