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[rooster59]

Trump scraps Pompeo trip to North Korea, citing stalled nuclear diplomacy

By Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom

 

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Singapore August 4, 2018. REUTERS/Edgar Su

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday abruptly cancelled his top diplomat's planned trip to North Korea, publicly acknowledging for the first time that his effort to get Pyongyang to denuclearise had stalled since his summit with North Korea's leader.Trump partly blamed China for the lack of progress with North Korea and suggested that talks with Pyongyang, led so far by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, could be on hold until after Washington resolved its bitter trade dispute with Beijing.

 

It was a dramatic shift of tone for Trump, who had previously hailed his June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a success and said the North Korean nuclear threat was over, despite no real sign Pyongyang was willing to give up its nuclear weapons.

 

But Trump still kept the door open to a second summit with Kim, with whom the president recently said he has "great chemistry.""I have asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to go to North Korea, at this time, because I feel we are not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula," Trump wrote on Twitter.

 

The North Korean mission to the United Nations declined to comment.

 

Negotiations have all but deadlocked since the summit in Singapore. Pompeo has pressed for tangible steps toward North Korea's abandonment of its nuclear arsenal while Pyongyang is demanding that Washington first make concessions of its own.

 

Trump's statement came just a day after Pompeo said he would again visit North Korea and would take his new special envoy, former auto industry executive Stephen Biegun, with him.

 

But Trump asked Pompeo not to go during a Friday meeting and they crafted the tweets together, White House officials said.

 

National security adviser John Bolton, considered a leading North Korea hawk, weighed in by speakerphone during a visit to Ukraine, U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

 

Many other key officials learned of Trump's decision by seeing the crawl across a television screen, some during a meeting on North Korea negotiations, officials said.

 

Some U.S. intelligence and defence officials had considered Pompeo's latest trip to be premature and said the prospects for significant progress appeared dim.

 

Pompeo, who would have been making his second visit to Pyongyang since the summit, had not been due to meet Kim this time.

 

Trump himself was still open to another meeting with Kim, in hopes of advancing the process, but was not pleased with the latest signals from North Korea, a White House official said.

 

ONUS ON CHINA

 

Trump put some of the onus on China, North Korea's biggest trading partner and a crucial actor in enforcing sanctions to keep pressure on Pyongyang.

 

"Because of our much tougher Trading stance with China, I do not believe they are helping with the process of denuclearisation as they once were (despite the UN Sanctions which are in place)," Trump tweeted.

 

"Secretary Pompeo looks forward to going to North Korea in the near future, most likely after our Trading relationship with China is resolved," Trump wrote. "In the meantime I would like to send my warmest regards and respect to Chairman Kim. I look forward to seeing him soon!"

 

Trump told Reuters on Monday he believed Kim had taken specific steps toward denuclearisation and that they would "most likely" meet again.

 

Kelly Magsamen a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defence for Asian affairs, said Trump was undermining his leverage with Kim as well as that of Pompeo and his new envoy.

 

"It's fine to not send the Secretary due to lack of progress, but don't then also talk about how you are eager to meet with KJU and how China is thwarting you," she tweeted.

 

Christopher Hill, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, tweeted: "Looks like @realDonaldTrump has begun to worry about #NorthKorea intentions. Good decision especially if otherwise Pompeo would have returned empty handed."

 

Kim made a broad, vague commitment in Singapore to work toward denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula but has given no sign of willingness to give up his arsenal unilaterally.

 

Talks since then have made little headway, with the two sides far apart on denuclearisation and the U.S. insistence for this to happen before North Korea sees any sanctions relief.

 

On his last visit to Pyongyang, in July, Pompeo left saying progress had been made, only for North Korea within hours to denounce his "gangster-like demands."

 

U.S. officials have been trying without success to persuade North Korea to detail the extent of its nuclear arsenal.

 

Trump's decision came just days after the U.N. nuclear watchdog reported it had not found any indication that North Korea had stopped its nuclear activities.

 

However, some analysts suggested Trump's move may also be a negotiating ploy. In May, Trump announced he was calling off his planned summit with Kim, citing Pyongyang's "open hostility," only to reverse himself eight days later.

 

The cancellation follows two days of U.S.-China trade talks in Washington that ended with no sign of progress toward resolving a deepening trade war between the world's two largest economies and no plans for more talks in the near term.

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-08-25

[mike324]

There is a reason why you don't bargain with terrorist.

[Srikcir]

5 hours ago, rooster59 said:

no sign of progress

Which is amazing as the six-party 2005 summit statement was much stronger than the water downed 2018 two-party statement.   https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/06/trump-kim-korea-success/563012/

[Expatthailover]

Yet again dishonest don the despicable draft dodger got it horribly wrong and lied to the world

[Redline]

Hmmmm, nobody suspected this would happen ?

[Tug]

I worry Donald will use this as a bid to stay in power by creating a war with N Korea and by starting a trade war with China did you really expect them to support sanctions?are you that dumb do you think we are?

[Langsuan Man]

Aw hell, I was just getting to sleep easily knowing that the nuclear problem with North Korea was solved since Dapper Don gave me assurance that his friend was going to denuclearize 

[Bluespunk]

Yet more evidence of the “great negotiator’s” skill set...

[bendejo]

39 minutes ago, Bluespunk said:

Yet more evidence of the “great negotiator’s” skill set...

I think The Orange One negotiated the start of a resort development deal, he pretty much said so himself at the press conference afterwards.

 

 

[mtls2005]

His passive-aggressive tweet-storm on this subject yesterday ended...

 

...Secretary Pompeo looks forward to going to North Korea in the near future, most likely after our Trading relationship with China is resolved. In the meantime I would like to send my warmest regards and respect to Chairman Kim. I look forward to seeing him soon!

 

Tell us what was discussed in Singapore.

 

It would be nice if he could formulate a plan with steps, goals.

 

Articulate it to the American public, and the world.

 

Execute the plan.

 

Or just tweet and golf, and bounce from one issue to another. 

 

 

 

 

[Skywalker69]

So what about the Nobel Peace prize? ?

 

[DM07]

...but...they have nice beaches!

Sent from my RNE-L22 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Silurian]

Have they started building the Pyongyang McDonald's yet? Better pull back on that before it is too late!