Kim Yong-chol was dismissed as the chief of the United Front Department. Photo: Reuters
SCMP: Replacement of North Korea’s top envoy for nuclear talks with US a ‘positive signal’, analysts say
* Kim Yong-chol, a senior trusted official, has been sacked as the negotiator for nuclear talks with the US
* But he is likely to retain his high standing in the Workers’ Party, analysts say, as the dismissal indicates diplomacy will be returned to the foreign ministry
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un
has fired his top envoy for nuclear talks with the United States, blaming him for the collapse of the second Trump-Kim summit
in Hanoi, a South Korean lawmaker said on Wednesday, citing security briefings.
Kim Yong-chol, the senior official who delivered Kim’s letters to Trump and has acted as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s counterpart, was dismissed as the chief of the United Front Department, said the head of the South Korean parliament’s intelligence committee Lee Hye-hoon.
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WNU Editor: Too early to say on what changes in North Korea's peace delegation may have in future talks. But this caught my eye .... Kim Jong Un's 'princess' sister was mysteriously absent from his side at North Korea's summit with Putin, further fueling rumors of her demotion (Business Insider).
Is this a "positive signal?" I tend to agree with your assessment that it is "to early to say." While I do not "know" what Kim expected as I do not have inside information in real time on the inner workings of this entire process, these massive shakeups that we are seeing tend to suggest that the conventional wisdom on this that Kim is playing Trump and more importantly playing America and its allies and making them look foolish is an incorrect assessment of this.
ReplyDeleteIt would suggest that Kim and North Korea are not getting enough of what they want from this to satisfy them. Couple this with the observation of very little change in the power structures of the US and its "allies" during this time at least when compared to North Korean changes would seem to suggest that the US and its "allies" are satisfied with what is going on or at least they are less dissatisfied with how things are going than North Korea and its leaders are. Hence the media narrative that Kim is playing Trump and making him look foolish seems to be an incorrect narrative that is not backed up by the available the available evidence. In fact, the opposite appears more likely to be true. Trump, the US, and its "allies: are playing Kim, North Korea, and their allies and making them look foolish.
With that said I frankly do not care who looks foolish or whatever as long as we achieve a peaceful resolution to this that finally allows us a concrete path whereby we can finally redeploy the troops currently stationed in South Korea and end the hostilities between us and North Korea. In order to maximize our chances of achieving this, IMHO it is vitally important that we stick to the current course.
In order to maximize the chances of this occurring it is oftentimes vital that misinformation be countered. Based upon the available evidence the notion that Trump and America are being played and the situation is not working for America appear to be incorrect.
The options are 1.)stick with the current course or 2.)go back to where we were in the fall of 2017. We CANNOT go back to that situation. As such, the best course is the current one. If someone can present a third way that is preferable, then we could evaluate it at that time. So far such a third way has not been presented that seems remotely viable.
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