North Korea to Suspend Talks with Trump Regime?
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Two Kim Jong-un/Trump summits and additional talks between officials of both countries achieved no change in hardline US policy toward the DPRK.
Nothing suggests the likelihood of improved bilateral relations ahead. Both right wings of US one-party rule have been hostile toward North Korea since the peninsula was divided along the 38th parallel post-WW II.
Good faith efforts by North Korea to improve relations since June 2018 proved futile. The Trump regime consistently demands full verifiable DPRK denuclearization and abandonment of its legitimate ballistic missile program.
It’s offered nothing in return but empty promises, sure to be breached like earlier – no peace treaty formally ending the 1950s war, no sanctions relief, no normalization of relations, no assurances of DPRK security, no good will gestures of any kind.
Last May, Pyongyang considered cancelling June 12 Kim/Trump summit talks over planned US military exercises with South Korea – what Pyongyang considers a rehearsal of war on the North, a statement at the time saying:
“This exercise, targeting us, which is being carried out across South Korea, is a flagrant challenge to the Panmunjom Declaration and an intentional military provocation running counter to the positive political development on the Korean Peninsula,” adding:
“The United States will also have to undertake careful deliberations about the fate of the planned North Korea-US summit in light of this provocative military ruckus jointly conducted with the South Korean authorities.”
On Thursday, Reuters said Pyongyang may suspend talks with the Trump regime. It “may rethink a ban on missile and nuclear tests unless Washington makes concessions,” citing an unnamed senior DPRK official.
Most likely it was Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui. She blamed Trump regime officials for failed February 27-28 summit talks in Hanoi, Vietnam, saying at the time:
“We have no intention to yield to the (one-sided) US demands in any form, nor are we willing to engage in negotiations of this kind,” adding:
Pompeo and Bolton “created the atmosphere of hostility and mistrust and, therefore, obstructed the constructive effort for negotiations between the supreme leaders of North Korea and the United States.”
Kim will shortly announce whether or not he’ll continue pursuing talks with the US, Choe explained.
He accused Trump regime officials of aborting a chance to resolve differences between both countries, expressing deep disappointment over failed talks, adding personal relations between him and Trump are “still good and the chemistry is mysteriously wonderful.”
It’s not good enough because of Pompeo and Bolton’s “hostility and mistrust” of Pyongyang. As a result, the North may end its self-imposed moratorium of nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
“Whether to maintain this moratorium or not is the decision of our chairman of the state affairs commission,” said Choi, referring to Kim, adding “(h)e will make his decision in a short period of time.”
South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s spokesperson said “(w)hatever the situation, our government will try its best to help resume North Korea-US negotiations.”
Choe quoted Kim saying: “For what reason do we have to make this (65-hour) train trip again? Choe added: “I want to make it clear that the gangster-like stand of the US will eventually put the situation in danger.”
“We have neither the intention to compromise with the US in any form nor much less the desire or plan to conduct this kind of negotiation.”
Further talks are futile, unable to achieve anything substantive unless the Trump regime changes its “political calculation.” Pompeo and Bolton created a climate of bilateral mistrust, making it impossible to reach agreement on major issues.
Talks in Hanoi broke down because Trump regime officials refused to offer any concessions. Kim asked DLT for partial sanctions relief alone, wanting only those affecting North Korea’s economy lifted.
Choe accused the US of being hardline, one-sided and inflexible. She stressed that Kim “never asked for the removal of sanctions in their entirety.” Reported claims otherwise were false.
“(W)e underst(and) very clearly that the United States has a very different calculation to ours,” Choi explained. It’s how things have been all along, including before last June’s summit.
Trump regime officials demand full compliance with their one-sided demands, refusing even a modest show of good faith in return, assuring the futility of continuing talks under these conditions.
Seoul hasn’t provided meaningful help because it’s a US ally. According to deputy State Department spokesman Robert Palladino, Trump regime and South Korean officials met in Washington on Thursday.
They “shared updates on efforts to achieve our shared goals of a final verified denuclearization, including through the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions…(as) part of comprehensive and close coordination over North Korea,” adding:
US envoy on North Korea Steve Biegun is meeting with UN officials in New York, discussing the failed Hanoi summit. He lied saying Trump ended talks because Kim demanded full sanctions relief, clearly not the case.
Separately on Wednesday, Pompeo discussed North Korea, Yemen, Iran, Venezuela, and other geopolitical issues with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, according to Palladino.
He falsely accused Iran of obstructing US efforts to resolve Middle East conflicts. Clearly it’s the other way around, Washington bearing full responsibility for regional wars and turmoil, along with its imperial partners. The Islamic Republic seeks to resolve them in vain.
Wherever the US shows up, mass slaughter, destruction and human misery follow – what the scourge of imperialism is all about.
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