For veteran Korean watchers?
This will be NO surprise…
There was always skepticism about North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un moves to appear like he wanted to have a peace with the South Korean’s AND give up his nukes….
Few thought the North Korea leader would do so, even with American President saying he would help the poor country get back on it’s economic feet….
(The overnighting view is North Korea will NEVER give up it’s nuke’s)
Trump has been forced to say OUT LOUD that there would be NO American troop withdrawal from the South….
That, along with the US holding annual war game drills seems to have spooked the North Korean leader…
Donald Trump is gonna look a little foolish if he gets NOTHING out of all of this….
North Korea has cancelled Wednesday’s high-level talks with South Korea because of anger over its joint military exercises with the US.
The North’s official KCNA news agency said the exercises were a “provocation” and a rehearsal for an invasion.
It also warned the US over the fate of the historic summit between Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump that is scheduled for 12 June in Singapore.
In March, Mr Trump stunned the world by accepting an invitation to meet Mr Kim.
“We will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!” the US leader later tweeted.
The US state department said it was continuing to prepare for the Trump-Kim summit and that it was not aware of any changes in the North Korean position
What exactly has North Korea cancelled?
In short, the scheduled talks with South Korea were a follow-up to a rare summit that was held on 27 April.
They were agreed earlier this week and were set to take place at Panmunjom, a military compound in the demilitarised zone between the two countries that is often referred to as the “truce”….
Update….
JUST IN: North Korea says will never engage in economic trade with the U.S. in exchange for giving up its nuclear program – KCNA. For the latest on #NorthKorea, follow our live blog https://reut.rs/2L2w2YU
(I told ya so!)
And Donald Trump thought that he was the only tough, unpredictable negotiator.
Two parties that are probably too clever by at least half.
It’s rare for countries to give up nuclear weapons.
The only ones I’m aware of are:South Africa, Kazakhstan , and Ukraine, the latter two after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Are there any others?
Libya – I think
Brazil and Argentina agreed mutually to stop heading towards a nuclear arms race, and I think Chile followed.
So far as I know, South America is still officially a zone which neither has nor seeks nuclear weapons.
And those South American countries made some show of dismantling and safely disposing of the physical material already in their nuclear-weapons development programmes.
But, of course, there’s no symmetry between a mutual stop-order agreement in the embryonic stage between countries — whatever their historical antagonisms, fears, suspicions and grievances might be— whose personal, family, political, cultural and commercial relations with each other are basically civil if not indeed friendly, and the very different relationship between a Have power (U.S., Russia, China, U.K., France, Israel, India or Pakistan) and a smaller Wanna-Have country.
Trump’s people are trying to salvage their embrassment and disappointment by saying the North Korean’s did NOT tell Sec of State Pompeo about this PERSONALLY?
If Trump & Co. work REAL HARD enough?
They can get Iran to join the list of countries witha nuke….
And THAT WILL result in Israel not being happy and possibly doing something crazy….
And THAT will probably mean an arming of other Middle East countries with nukes….
Trump , pushed by Bolton is making some SERIOUSLY BAD foreign policy moves right now….
Does North Korea backing out of the talks with South Korea mean that the Trump supporters chants of “Nobel” were premature? Or perhaps Trump’s supporters still believe he deserve the Nobel prize for other things – such as draining the swamp?
How about his efforts to stop ANY immigrants into America?
Maybe they think he deserves a Nobel in Literature; if Bob Dylan, why not Donald Trump ?
Or maybe one in Economics, because of his unprecedented breakthroughs in financial legerdemain ?
How about for figuring out how to MAKE money off Americans WHILE IN office?
Trump breaks with Bolton’s hard line against North Korea ALREADY…
Is begging North Korea to come to the table….
via twitter…
Jim Sciutto
@jimsciutto
The President of the United States just pledged “very strong protections” to a brutal #NorthKorean dictator to remain in power as part of any deal. That is a remarkable thing. What, if anything, has Kim pledged the US?
Trump pledged that to Kim Jong Un? Absolutely sickening.
John Bolton should be the President.
Bolton probably will end up back at Fox
Trump doesn’t keep staff long…..
President Trump said that his summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un may not go ahead as planned, adding that if the June 12 date does not hold, “maybe it will happen later,” according to Axios……
(Trump HAS got played….)