North Korea threatens to cancel summit with Trump

[enhanced_deficit]

Bit of surprising news while Trump and allies were busy celeberating Israel embassy move/teaching Palestinian protesters a lesson. Timing of this move does not indicate that NK's leader was trolling Trump earlier / now is trying to put extra pressure on Trump who had already announced the summit and started using it as a political talking point.

Kim Jong-un Wants US Promise Not to Invade in Exchange for Nukes
New York Magazine Apr 29, 2018

But it is still surprising that such a high profile summit could have been planned without such details being discussed beforehand?



North Korea threatens to cancel summit with Trump over military drills

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said that the U.S. will continue planning for the Trump-Kim summit despite a North Korean threat to pull out. (Reuters)

by Anna Fifield May 15 at 4:15 PM

SEOUL — North Korea is casting doubt on next month’s summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Trump over joint Air Force drills taking place in South Korea, which it says are ruining the diplomatic mood.
North Korea always reacts angrily to the joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises, considering them as a rehearsal for an invasion. But this year, with the sudden burst of diplomacy, had appeared to be different.
The South Korean and U.S. militaries had scaled back and played down the exercises, declining the news media the usual access to the drills. North Korea barely said a word about the drills during the computer simulation exercises that took place through April.
..
The threat by North Korea to cancel the summit now would seem to contradict the message that South Korean national security adviser Chung Eui-yong brought to the White House in March, when Kim volunteered to meet with Trump. At that time, Kim’s message was that North Korea would refrain from additional nuclear or missile testing and understood “that the routine joint military exercises between the Republic of Korea and the United States must continue.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...f3c_story.html







Related

TRUMP PULLS OUT OF IRAN DEAL

Historic: American Trump and Korean Kim Jong Un to meet on June 12 in Singapore






North Korea cites Muammar Gaddafi's 'destruction' in nuclear test defence
Pyongyang says the fates of the late Libyan leader and Saddam Hussein show the need for a nuclear deterrent

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...t-defence.html

[Swordsmyth]

Update: The State Department says it had not received any information from North Korea concerning a threat to cancel the historic US-North Korea summit set for June 12. The State Department said it's still operating under the assumption that the Singapore summit is still happening.
* * *

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...ilitary-drills

[enhanced_deficit]

Update: The State Department says it had not received any information from North Korea concerning a threat to cancel the historic US-North Korea summit set for June 12. The State Department said it's still operating under the assumption that the Singapore summit is still happening.

Hopefully not but this could be negotiation tactic #6, keeping 'em wondering. I think tactic #3 was changing the meeting location at the last minute. (h/t Michael Scott/The Office)
But in any case, one thing that American voters cannot accept is that KJU is a better negotiator than our historic leader.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tel5mOZ71nA

[Jan2017]

A legitimate concern for NK... we know how that worked out for Libya.

Update: The State Department says it had not received any information from North Korea concerning a threat to cancel the historic US-North Korea summit set for June 12. The State Department said it's still operating under the assumption that the Singapore summit is still happening.
* * *

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...ilitary-drills

Diplomatic/war positioning after absurd continuation of American rhetoric by - this time - it's meet, John Bolton.

Yeah, sure Bolton . . . the USA seeks a Libyan model for North Korea . . . wtf?
Is the Secretary of State Hillary running arms through the de facto capital Benghazi with the de jure capital Tripoli
all through the private SECRET Denver-based server, again ?

What woods has this arsehole John Bolton jus' walked outta ?

North Korea . . . with 28,000 USA troops on the pennisula still . . . is seeking an end to the half-century old Korean War. Get a clue, Bolton.

Clapper had the same problems in the 2014 negotiations with North Korea . . . same chit from the same mold I guess.

[enhanced_deficit]

North Korea cancels meeting with South Korea

North Korea cancels meeting with South Korea, threatens to ditch summit with US over military drills

• North Korea abruptly canceled talks with South Korea scheduled for Wednesday, according to media reports.
• North Korea's state-run Central News Agency said the ongoing joint military drills between the U.S. and South Korea are a "provocation" and a preparation for an invasion.
• The Associated Press, citing Yonhap, reported that North Korea is also threatening to cancel the talks with the U.S. because of the joint military exercises.

Kevin Breuninger | Amanda Macias
Published 3 Hours Ago Updated 34 Mins Ago



Hopefully problems will be worked out and it won't go back to crazy tweet storms and 'dotard' type uncivil attacks.

[enhanced_deficit]

If POTUS cancelled military drill now after KJU's public threat to cancel summit, he would get bit of upper hand even before the start of summit.


Did North Korea just yank the football — and Trump's Nobel Prize — away?
Opinion Los Angeles Times 52m ago

[Raginfridus]

If Kim withdrew from summit with Trump, that would suck, but could also be funny for a week or two. Let's wait until all the facts are in.

[Zippyjuan]

North Korea isn't going to give up their nukes anyways.

[shakey1]

North Korea isn't going to give up their nukes anyways.

I tend to agree with you on this one Zip.

[pao]

North Korea isn't going to give up their nukes anyways.

...because the US will not remove it's threatening US military presence in South Korea.

[timosman]

...because the US will not remove it's threatening US military presence in South Korea.

We can be next door to China, why would we give it up? China is also pulling strings in NK. We probably will be looking into a package deal involving NK, China and US.

[Zippyjuan]

...because the US will not remove it's threatening US military presence in South Korea.

Nukes are their only source of any respect (or fear). It is their only source of power (military/ political). It is the only reason the US is even considering talking with them. No way they give that up. Even if the US did offer to leave South Korea (also not likely to happen).

[timosman]

Nukes are their only source of any respect (or fear). It is their only source of power (military/ political). It is the only reason the US is even considering talking with them. No way they give that up. Even if the US did offer to leave South Korea (also not likely to happen).

China doesn't play any role in this?

[Swordsmyth]

Update II: North Korea's decision to suspend talks with the South after abruptly cancelling an inter-Korean summit set for Wednesday has apparently rattled the US.
In what appears to be a concession to North Korea - or at least, a hypothetical one - Yonhap reported Tuesday night that the US is considering withholding its B-52 bombers from joint exercises with South Korea taking place this week.
In a return to its pre-detente rhetoric, North Korea said Tuesday that it felt threatened by the exercises, and threatened to retaliate.
* * *

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...ilitary-drills

[Swordsmyth]

Update II: North Korea's decision to suspend talks with the South after abruptly cancelling an inter-Korean summit set for Wednesday has apparently rattled the US.
In what appears to be a concession to North Korea - or at least, a hypothetical one - Yonhap reported Tuesday night that the US is considering withholding its B-52 bombers from joint exercises with South Korea taking place this week.
In a return to its pre-detente rhetoric, North Korea said Tuesday that it felt threatened by the exercises, and threatened to retaliate.
* * *

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...ilitary-drills

The Pentagon has denied reports that it had considered pulling B-52 bombers from military drills between the US and South Korea. According to the Pentagon, the bombers were never supposed to take part in the drills, the Washington Examiner reported.

The US and South Korea recently started their springtime "Max Thunder" drills which are meant to "enhance interoperability and readiness."
"The scope of Max Thunder has not changed," Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Chris Logan said Wednesday.
* * *

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...zation-demands

[brushfire]

[TheTexan]

+rep

America will not tolerate their insolence

[timosman]

This is embarrassing for us. It couldn't wait?

[TheCount]

They're counting on Trump being emotionally invested in the positive press that he's pre-received for a yet-to-be-accomplished deal. It's a good call to make on their part. He's like a customer at the car dealership who's already got the keys in his pocket.

[enhanced_deficit]

Yes it would be embarassing if cancelled.

North Korea isn't going to give up their nukes anyways.

They're counting on Trump being emotionally invested in the positive press that he's pre-received for a yet-to-be-accomplished deal. It's a good call to make on their part. He's like a customer at the car dealership who's already got the keys in his pocket.

Who's the master negotiator between these two?


CBS/AP May 15, 2018, 11:07 PM
North Korea threatens to pull out of U.S. summit if ordered to give up nuclear weapons

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea's first vice foreign minister says the country has no interest in a summit with the United States if it's going to be a "one-sided" affair where it's pressured to give up its nukes. The statement by Kim Kye Gwan on Wednesday came hours after the North abruptly canceled a high-level meeting with South Korea and threatened to do the same with a planned summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Trump next month.
Kim Kye Gwan criticized recent comments by Mr. Trump's top security adviser John Bolton and other U.S. officials who have been talking about how the North should follow the "Libyan model" of nuclear disarmament and provide a "complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement."
He also criticized other U.S. comments that the North should completely abandon not only its nukes and missiles but also its biological and chemical weapons.

Kim says: "We will appropriately respond to the Trump administration if it approaches the North Korea-U.S. summit meeting with a truthful intent to improve relations."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-k...ay-2018-05-15/

[enhanced_deficit]

[QUOTE=TheCount;6629769]They're counting on Trump being emotionally invested in the positive press that he's pre-received for a yet-to-be-accomplished deal. It's a good call to make on their part. He's like a customer at the car dealership who's already got the keys in his pocket.[/QUOTE]


That would go very much against Art of the Dealer.


Trump says North Korea meeting may be delayed, hints China is to blame

The president says Xi is a ‘world-class poker player’ and suggests Kim changed his tone after meeting with the Chinese leader.

By CRISTIANO LIMA
05/22/2018 12:28 PM EDT

President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may be delayed and that Chinese President Xi Jinping may be responsible for a breakdown in the pre-summit talks.
Meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the White House, Trump said there was a "very substantial chance" the talks could be postponed from the scheduled date of June 12 if the countries fail to come to terms on various issues. He also hinted that the Chinese leader may be behind North Korea's return to more aggressive rhetoric against the U.S.

Questions have grown over whether the highly anticipated diplomatic talks will go on as planned next month in Singapore due to recent criticism from Pyongyang of joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea. North Korea has also said it has no interest in a summit if the U.S. demands "unilateral nuclear abandonment."
Trump on Tuesday floated that Kim's meeting with Xi earlier this month may be linked to his country's sudden hesitation to engage with the U.S. diplomatically.
"I think there was a little change in attitude from Kim Jong Un" after his second meeting with Xi in early May, Trump said. "So I don't like that."

Pressed on whether he believed Xi had discouraged Kim from meeting with U.S. leaders, Trump said "no" and that he wasn't "blaming anybody."
But he added: "President Xi is a world-class poker player and I'd probably maybe doing the same thing that he would do. But I will say this, there was a somewhat different attitude after that meeting and I'm a little surprised."

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...-summit-602669





Related

GOP Senator: China is winning

Marco Rubio‏ Verified account @marcorubio

#China is winning the negotiations. Their concessions are things they planned to do anyways. In exchange they get no tariffs, can keep stealing intellectual property & can keep blocking our companies while they invest in the U.S. without limits. #Losing
3:28 AM - 21 May 2018

[enhanced_deficit]

Seems like there may be two testers here.











Kim is testing Trump.
He is trying to do precisely what his father and grandfather before him managed to pull off: extract concessions, economic and political gains, while making small concessions or promises they later failed to keep.


Pyongyang's sudden indignation at this week's US-South Korea exercises, known as "Max Thunder," is a sham. The annual exercises are aimed at maintaining military coordination between the United States and its ally, to remain ready in case of a North Korean attack. After all, North Korea has attacked in the past.



Pyongyang knew Max Thunder was coming. In fact, last March, shortly after visiting Pyongyang, the South Korean national security adviser said in a statement that "[Kim] understands that the routine joint military exercises between the Republic of Korea and the United States must continue. And he expressed his eagerness to meet President Trump as soon as possible."

Kim is trying to find out just how much Trump is willing to do to prevent the collapse of the summit.

Not long after the surprise announcement, the Pentagon appeared to suggest it will not budge. We'll see how Trump responds.

Giving in to Kim on the exercises would constitute another concession in what are already lopsided pre-summit negotiations. North Korea has always wanted the military exercises to end. That should be an item for negotiation, not a concession ahead of the talks.

Already, Trump, whose administration has lost its top nuclear and North Korean experts, has given Kim much of what he wanted. For decades North Korea wanted a top-level meeting with US officials. Trump has not only granted it in exchange for not very much but has also been praising Kim, calling him "very honorable" and "really excellent."

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/15/opini...tis/index.html

[enhanced_deficit]

This kind of name calling shoud not be acceptable in the pre-summit phase:



North Korea says it may blow off Trump meeting, and 'sinister' US won't make it give up nukes

• North Korea said it will reconsider a June 12 meeting with President Donald Trump if Washington insists on Pyongyang relinquishing nuclear weapons.
• Earlier, the isolated state abruptly canceled talks with South Korea in protest over Washington and Seoul's joint military drills.

Published 10 Hours Ago Updated 48 Mins Ago

North Korea cancels talks with South Korea 9 Mins Ago | 01:49


North Korea on Wednesday injected further uncertainty into plans for a highly anticipated summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump.

In a statement carried by state news agency KCNA, North Korea's First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Kye Gwan said his country will reconsider the historic June 12 meeting if the U.S. insists on Pyongyang relinquishing its nuclear weapons.
The development is the latest sign of possible backtracking by Kim following the ruler's months-long international charm offensive that was widely hoped to clear tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Earlier, the rogue state canceled talks with South Korea and threatened to ditch the June 12 summit in protest over Washington and Seoul's joint military drills.
Wednesday's news "is classic North Korean playbook," said Sean King, senior vice president at consulting firm Park Strategies.
Ongoing peace efforts, which include Kim's summit with South Korean leader Moon Jae-In last month, may "be moving faster than North Korea ever expected and this is sort of their passive-aggressive excuse to get out of it," he continued.

Ahn Young-joon | AP

A man watches a TV screen showing U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station.

No Libya-style denuclearization

Recent "unbridled remarks" from Washington prior to the June 12 meeting constituted signs of "unjust" behavior, Kim Kye Gwan stated.
Specifically naming National Security Advisor John Bolton, the North Korean minister said U.S. officials are "letting loose the assertions of so-called Libya mode of nuclear abandonment" and discussing a formula of "abandoning nuclear weapons first [and] compensating afterwards."
That amounts to "awfully sinister" moves to impose on North Korea "the destiny of Libya or Iraq, which had been collapsed due to yielding the whole of their countries to big powers," the minister said, stressing that Pyongyang rejects Libya-style denuclearization.
Libya voluntarily gave up its nuclear ambitions in 2003 in order to get out from under economic sanctions. The country's dictator Moammar Gadhafi was eventually overthrown in a Western-supported coup and killed in 2011.





Related

[milgram]

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/05...d-demands.html

North Korea May Cancel Summit Over Bolton's 'Absurd' Demands

Trump thought he had already won. Finally North Korea is setting him straight. It will not give up its weapons under thread only to get smashed like other countries which made such mistakes:

Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan made clear that the communist regime is not interested in any nuclear talks in which it is coerced into giving up its nuclear arsenal, according to Pyongyang's state news agency KCNA.
...
Kim expressed displeasure with the U.S. bringing up previous denuclearization methods, including the one used for Libya.

The full statement singled out the 'repugnant' John Bolton:

High-ranking officials of the White House and the Department of State including Bolton, White House national security adviser, are letting loose the assertions of so-called Libya mode of nuclear abandonment, "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization", "total decommissioning of nuclear weapons, missiles, biochemical weapons". etc, while talking about formula of "abandoning nuclear weapons first, compensating afterwards".

This is not an expression of intention to address the issue through dialogue.
...
It is absolutely absurd to dare compare the DPRK, a nuclear weapon state, to Libya which had been at the initial stage of nuclear development.

We shed light on the quality of Bolton already in the past, and we do not hide our feeling of repugnance towards him.

If the Trump administration fails to recall the lessons learned from the past when the DPRK-U.S. talks had to undergo twists and setbacks owing to the likes of Bolton and turns its ear to the advice of quasi-"patriots" who insist on Libya mode and the like, prospects of upcoming DPRK-U.S. summit and overall DPRK-U.S. relations will be crystal clear.

We have already stated our intention for denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and made clear on several occasions that precondition for denuclearization is to put an end to anti-DPRK hostile policy and nuclear threats and blackmail of the United States.

Trump's Noble peace prize is drifting away ...

If Trump really wants the June 12 meeting with Kim Jong-un in Singapore and an agreement he will have to stop Bolton from making overarching demands. Secretary of State Pompeo will have to issue some conciliatory statements. The Pentagon, which dislikes peace talks that may diminish its position in South Korea, will have to end its provocative "strategic" maneuvers.

[Raginfridus]

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/05...d-demands.html

North Korea May Cancel Summit Over Bolton's 'Absurd' Demands

High-ranking officials of the White House and the Department of State including Bolton, White House national security adviser, are letting loose the assertions of so-called Libya mode of nuclear abandonment, "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization", "total decommissioning of nuclear weapons, missiles, biochemical weapons". etc, while talking about formula of "abandoning nuclear weapons first, compensating afterwards".

Because as others have already posted, that went well. Is Kim a stupidhead, or has he a plan?

[devil21]

Because as others have already posted, that went well. Is Kim a stupidhead, or has he a plan?

Or is it just kabuki theater for the masses?

[Raginfridus]

That too.

[brushfire]

[enhanced_deficit]

LOL
Wondering who is the Tester (Master negotiator) in this scenario amd who is the Testee.

[enhanced_deficit]

Even if they are thinking that they've trapped our national leaders, negotiation tricks NK is playing now with frivolous damenda are gettng bit out of hand:





North Korea demands Seoul return waitress 'defectors'

Pyongyang claims the women were kidnapped from a North Korean restaurant in China, while Seoul insists they defected of their own free will AFP/GIUSEPPE CACACE
20 May 2018

SEOUL: North Korea has demanded Seoul repatriate a dozen waitresses who fled to the South two years ago, just days after abruptly calling off a planned inter-Korean meeting following weeks of tentative rapprochement.
The issue has long been controversial, with Pyongyang claiming the women were kidnapped from a North Korean state-run restaurant in China while Seoul insists they defected of their own free will.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...ctors-10251532