After Pyongyang put-down, Pompeo stands by 'difficult' denuclearisation talks

[webfact]

After Pyongyang put-down, Pompeo stands by 'difficult' denuclearisation talks

By David Brunnstrom, Tim Kelly and Patricia Zengerle

 

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo waits for Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Abe's official residence in Tokyo on July 8, 2018. Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool via Reuters

 

TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brushed off North Korean charges that he used "gangster-like" diplomacy in negotiations in Pyongyang, saying on Sunday after meeting his Japanese and South Korean counterparts that he would keep pursuing denuclearisation talks with North Korea.

 

Pompeo said in Tokyo there was still a lot of work to do, but he was confident North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would stick to a commitment to abandon nuclear weapons he made during a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore last month.

 

"When we spoke to them about denuclearisation, they did not push back," Pompeo told a news conference after two days of talks in Pyongyang that ended on Saturday. "The road ahead will be difficult and challenging and we know that critics will try to minimize the work that we've achieved."

 

Some U.S. senators expressed concern about North Korea's harsh words and urged the Trump administration to keep up the pressure on Pyongyang. Republican Senator Joni Ernst, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said joint military exercises with South Korea suspended to show goodwill toward North Korea should be resumed "soon" if talks sputter.

 

Pompeo said that while he saw progress in Pyongyang, the United States was not relaxing the current sanctions regime or changing its "ironclad" commitment to defend allies South Korea and Japan.

 

Pompeo spoke after North Korea said the talks "brought us in a dangerous situation where we may be shaken in our unshakable will for denuclearisation, rather than consolidating trust."

 

The statement was carried by the official KCNA news agency on Saturday soon after Pompeo left Pyongyang, raising questions about the future of talks in which he is trying to persuade Pyongyang to give up a nuclear weapons programme that threatens the United States.

 

"That was a fairly serious insult directed against Pompeo,” said Christopher Hill, who formerly served as U.S. ambassador to South Korea and lead negotiator with North Korea.

 

Kim made a broad commitment in Singapore to "work toward denuclearisation" but did not give details on how or when he would dismantle North Korea's nuclear programme. Trump offered security guarantees to Pyongyang and pledged to suspend the large-scale military drills with South Korea.

 

Leaked U.S. intelligence findings have concluded that North Korea does not intend to give up its nuclear programme completely.

North Korea's latest comments were a reminder of the difficulties that previous U.S. administrations had negotiating with the reclusive state.

 

“I think it was a pretty bad start to the process, but it doesn't mean it's over yet," said Hill, noting that North Korea talks were tough by nature.

 

“Most of the time you don't come back with anything. Most of the time you come back empty-handed," Hill added.

 

MILITARY DANGER REMAINS

Pompeo said he did not meet Kim on his latest visit to Pyongyang, as he had twice before, and he had not anticipated doing so. The White House said before the trip that he would meet Kim.

 

In a speech on Sunday in Vietnam, Pompeo urged North Korea to follow the example of Vietnam, saying he believed Pyongyang could replicate Hanoi's path to normal relations with Washington and to prosperity.

 

"The United States has been clear on what we seek from North Korea," Pompeo said in Hanoi. "The choice now lies with North Korea and its people.

 

"If they are able to do this, they will be remembered, and Chairman Kim will be remembered, as a hero of the Korean people."

 

Some analysts and lawmakers have expressed alarm that the talks appear to have run into difficulties, although others see a possible North Korean negotiating ploy.

 

"I see China's hands all over this," said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, saying he thought the Chinese were "pulling back" North Korea because of the U.S.-China trade dispute.

 

Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said on Twitter there was a danger of military action because Trump might now say he had tried diplomacy but was betrayed by Kim.

 

"But a rushed summit and demands that NK denuclearize in short order or else is not a serious test of diplomacy," Haass tweeted.

 

'FIRST STEPS'

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said her country did not believe Washington had softened its demands, as some U.S. officials and analysts have suggested.

 

"Secretary Pompeo's visit to Pyongyang this time has taken the first steps," she said. "We expect this to be followed up by further constructive and productive negotiations."

 

After he met Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Kono, Pompeo said he was in Tokyo to discuss the U.S. alliance with Japan and maintaining "maximum pressure" on North Korea, an expression Trump's administration had backed away from after the Singapore summit.

 

Pompeo said he had pushed North Korea on a promise to destroy a missile engine test site.

 

He also said talks had yielded an agreement to form a "working-level" group to oversee day-to-day interactions between the United States and North Korea.

 

Officials from the two sides would meet next week in Panmunjom, on the border between the two Koreas, to discuss the return of the remains of roughly 7,000 U.S. soldiers missing since the 1950-1953 Korean War.

 

KCNA said Pyongyang had offered to discuss declaring a formal end to the war to mark next month's anniversary of the armistice. It said the U.S. side had shown little interest, giving "certain conditions and excuses."

 

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Tim Kelly and Patricia Zengerle; Additional reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo in Tokyo, Christine Kim in Seoul and Susan Cornwell in Washington; Editing by Mary Milliken and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-07-09

[wayned]

Kim's agreement with Trump at Singapore  was " work toward denuclearzsation ".  IMHO Kim's expects this to be a basic agreement where NK gives up  identified parts of their nuclear system and in turn the US agrees to give up an indetified part of their nuclear protection of the Korean Peninsula, both to be CVIR.  The next meeting between the two needs to be a meeting that endorses this list where both Trump and Kim agree, not another hind-lick maneuver meeting in New York in September.  Kim will not agree to the Bolton "Libya Model" no matter who presents it, and if I were him I wouldn't either.  What Trump has done is given Kim the advantage! And on the other front he's about to go one on one with Putin!

[bristolboy]

"In a speech on Sunday in Vietnam, Pompeo urged North Korea to follow the example of Vietnam, saying he believed Pyongyang could replicate Hanoi's path to normal relations with Washington and to prosperity."

A particularly clueless reference given that the precursor to this resumption of normal relations was North Vietnam's conquest of South Vietnam.

[alanrchase]

Unfortunately you can't believe anything anyone in the Trump administration says.

[Tug]

Kinda feel sorry for Pompeo working for the (master negotiator)and just think this clown(trump)is going to see Putin next week after undermining NATO 

[Srikcir]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brushed off North Korean charges that he used "gangster-like" diplomacy in negotiations in Pyongyang

Pompeo followed Trump's Art of Negotiation: set up a false scenario and demand concessions as a precursor to a reciprocal response - very gangster-like indeed.

Now Kim throws that back at Pompeo: give us something material to keep us engaged as a matter of good faith.

Kim knows China and Russia will no longer maintain a full ban as before as Trump conceded there is no nuclear danger from North Korea. Kim also knows Trump's ego is at stake (especially with mid-year elections in November) and Trump will put that ego before American interests and America's allies.

Trump may have met one mafia crime family that he can't subdue.

[africasiaeuro]

4 hours ago, wayned said:

Kim's agreement with Trump at Singapore  was " work toward denuclearzsation ".  IMHO Kim's expects this to be a basic agreement where NK gives up  identified parts of their nuclear system and in turn the US agrees to give up an indetified part of their nuclear protection of the Korean Peninsula, both to be CVIR.  The next meeting between the two needs to be a meeting that endorses this list where both Trump and Kim agree, not another hind-lick maneuver meeting in New York in September.  Kim will not agree to the Bolton "Libya Model" no matter who presents it, and if I were him I wouldn't either.  What Trump has done is given Kim the advantage! And on the other front he's about to go one on one with Putin!

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

17 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

Kim knows China and Russia will no longer maintain a full ban as before as Trump conceded there is no nuclear danger from North Korea. Kim also knows Trump's ego is at stake (especially with mid-year elections in November) and Trump will put that ego before American interests and America's allies.

 

All of that is the scary part...

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, alanrchase said:

Unfortunately you can't believe anything anyone in the Trump administration says.

 

Liar in Chief strikes again....

 

Per the Associated Press yesterday on the aftermath of Pompeo's latest NK trip:
 

Quote

 

He [Pompeo] said North Korea said it offered to discuss the closure of a missile engine test site, which would “physically affirm” a move to halt the production of intercontinental range ballistic missiles, that the two sides had agreed that a Pentagon team would meet North Korean officials on or about Thursday at the border between North and South Korea to discuss the repatriation of remains.

However, in the days following the June 12 summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, Trump had already announced the return of the remains and the destruction of the missile facility had been completed or were in progress.

 

 

I guess this is how the Associated Press rightfully (and meekly) calls the president a liar, without actually using the accurate term.

 

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/international/2018/07/08/after-talks-n-korea-accuses-us-of-gangster-like-demands/

[wayned]

17 minutes ago, africasiaeuro said:

" work toward denuclearzsation "

The agreement that KIm and Trump had was basically as stated above and no actual definition of what each considered denucleariztion!  Pompeo has now gone in and tried to push Bolton's "Libya model" down their throat and they basically told him to take a flying <deleted>. Their denuclearization plans are that they give up something and then the US gives up something in return.  So if Kim agrees to destroy a ICBM with a nuclear warhead CVIR then he expects something in return, perhaps the destruction of a B1B bomber, but absolutely nothing is defined.  The plan was not defined by Trump and when it doesn't work out he has Bolton and Pompeo as scapegoats.  Now he's going one on one with Putin next week and who knows what will come out os the Syria situation!.  Bolton, Pompeo, Kudlow, Navarro, Miller should be escorted out the door by Kelly and Kelly should not let the door lit him in the ass as he left with them.

[rudi49jr]

4 hours ago, bristolboy said:

"In a speech on Sunday in Vietnam, Pompeo urged North Korea to follow the example of Vietnam, saying he believed Pyongyang could replicate Hanoi's path to normal relations with Washington and to prosperity."

A particularly clueless reference given that the precursor to this resumption of normal relations was North Vietnam's conquest of South Vietnam.

And those 'normal relations with Washington' only came after decades of sanctions that the USA instilled on Vietnam, just out of spite for losing the war.

[billd766]

2 hours ago, Tug said:

Kinda feel sorry for Pompeo working for the (master negotiator)and just think this clown(trump)is going to see Putin next week after undermining NATO 

 

I don't feel sorry for him at all. Nobody forced him toi take the job and if he really doesn't like it he can always quit or wait a while longer for Trump to fire him.

[Becker]

The fat Swamp King being played like a fool by the boy dictator. What a surprise!!!

[Redline]

1 hour ago, Srikcir said:

Pompeo followed Trump's Art of Negotiation: set up a false scenario and demand concessions as a precursor to a reciprocal response - very gangster-like indeed.

Now Kim throws that back at Pompeo: give us something material to keep us engaged as a matter of good faith.

Kim knows China and Russia will no longer maintain a full ban as before as Trump conceded there is no nuclear danger from North Korea. Kim also knows Trump's ego is at stake (especially with mid-year elections in November) and Trump will put that ego before American interests and America's allies.

Trump may have met one mafia crime family that he can't subdue.

Don’t forget, Trump already stopped military drills with no warning or consultation with the USA military or allies in the area.  NKorea 1 USA 0

[Srikcir]

1 hour ago, rudi49jr said:

And those 'normal relations with Washington' only came after decades of sanctions that the USA instilled on Vietnam, just out of spite for losing the war.

Communist Vietnam's path to normal relations with the US took 10 years with the founding of the US-Vietnam Trade Council in 1989 that resulted with the 2001the U.S.-Vietnam Trade Agreement. Then

another 5 years that the United States extended Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) to Vietnam. https://photos.state.gov/libraries/vietnam/8621/pdf-forms/15anniv-Trade-Investment-FactSheet.pdf

Clearly, Trump wants to accomplish the same within several months, ie., before year-end 2018. Aside from North Korea being required to give up some of its sovereignty in terms of "complete denuclearization" that was not a factor in US negotiations with Vietnam.

The Vietnam model doesn't apply to North Korea.

[bristolboy]

28 minutes ago, Redline said:

Don’t forget, Trump already stopped military drills with no warning or consultation with the USA military or allies in the area.  NKorea 1 USA 0

It's actually worse. He didn't even negotiate over that one. He offered it without being asked.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, billd766 said:

 

I don't feel sorry for him at all. Nobody forced him to take the job and if he really doesn't like it he can always quit or wait a while longer for Trump to fire him.

 

Pompeo is a Trump kind of guy -- hard right winger former congressman from Kansas, Tea Party member, climate change doubter, opponent of ACA, recipient of Koch Industries campaign donations, opponent of the Iran nuclear treaty and supposedly a past advocate of regime change in NK. etc etc etc.

 

Of course, none of that makes him immune from ultimately getting on Trump's bad side, as seems to happen with many people with any conscience who work for Trump at some point in time.

 

 

 

[Srikcir]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

KCNA said Pyongyang had offered to discuss declaring a formal end to the war to mark next month's anniversary of the armistice. It said the U.S. side had shown little interest, giving "certain conditions and excuses."

Apparently a formal end of war between North and South Koreas rejected by the US without consultation with South Korea - offered seemingly without conditions. How was that offer bad?

Unsurprising that the US side showered little interest, given Trump sees himself and Pompeo as the only persons who can succeed with Kim. A formal end of war puts South Korean President in the forefront. 

9 hours ago, webfact said:

"When we spoke to them about denuclearisation, they did not push back,"

It's called "ignored."

9 hours ago, webfact said:

"The choice now lies with North Korea and its people.

"its people"? Pure illusion.

9 hours ago, webfact said:

"I see China's hands all over this," said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, saying he thought the Chinese were "pulling back" North Korea because of the U.S.-China trade dispute.

More illusion.

9 hours ago, webfact said:

"If they are able to do this, they will be remembered, and Chairman Kim will be remembered, as a hero of the Korean people."

Most illusionary.

Is there anyone in North Korea who wonn't call Kim a Hero?

President Duterte has praised North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as an "idol" and "hero of everybody."

Trump has called Kim very honorable who loves his people.

This kind of platitude is offensive, especially coming from the Trump regime that looks upon Trump as an idol.