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US/North Korea Summit 2.0

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US/North Korea Summit 2.0

by Stephen Lendman

Over seven months after Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held summit talks in Singapore, the US failed to take any meaningful good will steps toward fulfilling mutually agreed on principles.

Washington doesn’t negotiate in good faith, failing to deal with other countries fairly, seeking global dominance over all other nations, not mutually cooperative relations.

Republicans and undemocratic Dems are two sides of one-party rule, demanding everything in return for empty promises. Nothing suggests a new leaf toward North Korea turned since last June - nor is change for the better likely coming in the new year or beyond.

Hardliners in charge of Trump’s geopolitical agenda seek DPRK subservience, denuclearization a step toward achieving it, wanting the country defenseless against Korean War 2.0 if launched.

Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile deterrents are solely for defense. Throughout its history, it never attacked another country. It threatens none now.

In return for denuclearizing and agreeing to other US demands, it justifiably seeks durable peace and stability on the peninsula, iron-clad guarantees for its security, unacceptable sanctions lifted, a formal end to the 1950s war agreed to by South Korea and America, as well as normalized relations with the US, the West, and regional nations for the first time in its history.

It requires a giant leap of faith to think what’s always been unattainable throughout the entire post-WW II era is within reach now in dealing with the most extremist regime in US history - unrelentingly hostile toward all sovereign independent nations, wanting their governments replaced by pro-Western puppet rule.

Despite nothing positive achieved in US/DPRK bilateral relations since last June, a White House statement said Trump and Vice Chairman Kim Young-chol agreed on another summit to take place in late February on a date and at a location to be announced.

Deputy State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said Pompeo and special representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun met with Kim for working-level talks ahead of a follow-up summit.

Make no mistake. Lofty rhetoric by US officials belie the imperial policy initiatives they pursue. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said DLT “looks forward to meeting with Chairman Kim” for more summit talks, adding:

“The United States is going to continue to keep pressure and sanctions on North Korea until we see fully and verified denuclearization.” 

“We’ve had very good steps and good faith from the North Koreans in releasing the hostages and other moves. And so we’re going to continue those conversations and the president looks forward to the next meeting.”

Washington hasn’t reciprocated in kind to good will steps taken by North Korea. Ahead of Kim’s arrival in Washington, Trump’s just released Missile Defense Review called the DPRK an “extraordinary threat” to US security - a bald-faced Big Lie.

It’s been the other way around since the Korean peninsula was divided post-WW II, Pyongyang a longstanding victim of US imperial aims.

Washington continues exerting heavy pressure on North Korea, demanding full, verifiable denuclearization and compliance with its other demands before agreeing to ease unjustifiable restrictions.

Hardliners Pompeo and Bolton continue treating North Korea disdainfully, the way they abuse all sovereign independent states.

Things began unravelling straightaway after June summit talks. Last year, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry slammed the Trump regime for increasing pressure on the country, “attempting to invent a pretext for increased sanctions,” adding:

“As long as the US denies even the basic decorum for its dialogue partner and clings to the outdated acting script which the previous administrations have all tried and failed, one cannot expect any progress in the implementation of the DPRK-US joint statement, including the denuclearization.”

The DPRK showed good faith by ceasing its nuclear and ballistic missile tests, along with dismantling its nuclear test site.

The Trump regime offered nothing in return but unacceptable hardline demands, proving it can never be trusted.

Its Missile Defense Review falsely claimed “North Korea has acquired Russian missile defense technology,” the accusation refuted by Moscow’s envoy to the DPRK, Alexander Matsegora, saying:

“The possibility that North Korea might obtain Russian missile and air defense technologies either officially or via some illegal channels is absolutely ruled out. I can state this categorically as a person who has thorough information on this score.”

“Washington is feverishly looking for another pretext for continuing and stepping up the pressure of sanctions on North Korea. The Americans’ allegations that North Korea has obtained new mobile-based missile interceptors may well turn out one of such excuses.”

“The charges against Russia are aimed at discrediting us on the platform of non-proliferation of missile technologies and in the UN Security Council, where we keep pressing for gradual easing of sanctions against North Korea in response to the measures that country’s leadership has been taking for the sake of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and easing tensions in the region.”

The US has unilaterally imposed illegal sanctions on the DPRK since 1950, the Security Council since the early 1990s, Russia, China and other nations going along with US harshness instead of vigorously opposing it.

Nations resisting Washington’s toughness are targeted for retaliation, including by restricting or denying access to the US market.

Unified opposition is the most effective way to break free. Washington remains adversarial toward North Korea because of its sovereign independence - how it mistreats all nations refusing to bend to its will.

Summit principles agreed on last year remain unfulfilled. Talks were more about advancing America’s imperium than stepping back from the brink on the Korean peninsula for regional peace - a notion bipartisan US hardliners reject everywhere.

Further rounds of US/DPRK summit talks won’t change a thing.

VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at [email protected].

 

My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

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