North Korea may suspend talks with "gangster-like" US

AlJazeera
Fri, 15 Mar 2019 12:00 UTC

© Leah Millis/Reuters

North Korea is considering suspending talks with the United States and may rethink a ban on missile and nuclear tests unless Washington makes concessions, news reports from Pyongyang have said quoting a senior diplomat.

Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui blamed top US officials for the breakdown of last month's summit in Hanoi between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Russia's TASS news agency and the Associated Press said on Friday.

"We have no intention to yield to the US demands [at the Hanoi summit] in any form, nor are we willing to engage in negotiations of this kind," TASS quoted Choe as telling reporters in the North Korean capital.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John 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", Tass quoted Choe as saying.

Kim is set to make an official announcement soon on his position regarding the denuclearisation talks with the US and the North's further actions, it added, citing Choe.

'Gangster-like stand'

Choe said Washington threw away a golden opportunity at the summit and warned that Kim might rethink a moratorium on missile launches and nuclear tests, the AP reported.

"I want to make it clear that the gangster-like stand of the US will eventually put the situation in danger," AP quoted her as saying.

But she added: "Personal relations between the two supreme leaders are still good and the chemistry is mysteriously wonderful."

Choe's remarks echoed the North's usual rhetoric at tense points in its dealings with Washington.

She said statements by senior Trump advisers since the summit have further worsened the climate.

In Washington, Pompeo and Bolton disputed the allegation. "They are wrong about that. I was there," Pompeo said on Friday. Bolton said in any case Trump "is our decision-maker".

Comment: It's become quite clear since Trump came into power that he alone does not decide the course of the US.

Pompeo said the US expects Kim to live up to his promise to Trump to maintain the moratorium on missile launches and nuclear tests.

"In Hanoi, on multiple occasions, he spoke directly to the president and made a commitment that he would not resume nuclear testing nor would he resume missile testing," Pompeo said. "So that's Chairman Kim's word. We have every expectation he will live up to that commitment."

All about North Korea's nuclear arsenal

South Korea's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae has come out to say Choe's comments alone are insufficient to gauge the current situation, and that it is monitoring it closely.

It reiterated it is committed to doing "whatever it takes" to reopen negotiations between North Korea and the US.

China's Prime Minister Li Keqiang urged patience and further dialogue between North Korea and the US.

"The peninsula problem can be said to be complicated and long-standing, and it cannot be solved overnight," Li told an annual news conference on Friday, although his remarks were not made in response to the TASS report.

Failed talks

The second Trump-Kim summit broke down over differences about the US demand for Pyongyang to denuclearise and North Korea's demand for dramatic relief from international sanctions imposed for its nuclear and missile tests, which it pursued for years in defiance of the United Nations Security Council resolutions.

Choe had said after the Hanoi talks that Kim might lose his commitment to pursue a deal with the US after seeing it reject a request to lift some sanctions in return for the North destroying its main known nuclear complex.

In Washington this week, the US special representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, said the US expected to be able to continue its close engagement, though he offered no specifics on when new talks might be held.

Bolton, who has argued for a tough approach to North Korea, said last week that Trump was open to more talks but also warned of tougher sanctions if the North did not denuclearise.

Comment: The Hill provides further detail on where the problems might be originating from:

Pompeo shoots down North Korea claim he created distrust, hostility at summit

[...]

"I want to make it clear that the gangster-like stand of the U.S. will eventually put the situation in danger," Choe said, according to The Associated Press. "We have neither the intention to compromise with the U.S. in any form nor much less the desire or plan to conduct this kind of negotiation."

When asked about the remarks at the State Department on Friday morning, Pompeo doubted that the comments would hamper negotiations going forward.

"It's not the first time," Pompeo told reporters. "I have a vague recollection of being called gangster-like from a visit I took one time previously. Following that, we continued to have very professional conversations where we tried our best to work together to represent our respective sides. I have every expectation that we will be able to continue to do that."

When the international community is calling you a gangster, there's a good chance that you are.

Earlier, Pompeo noted that Choe in her remarks "left open the possibility that negotiations would continue."

Bolton also disputed Choe's comments as "inaccurate" Friday.

"In Hanoi, on multiple occasions, he spoke directly to the president and made a commitment that he would not resume nuclear testing nor would he resume missile testing," Pompeo said. "That's Chairman Kim's word. We have every expectation that he will live up to that commitment."

Why should we believe Pompeo? A proven liar.

The second summit between Trump and Kim ended abruptly late last month without any agreement on further steps toward denuclearization. Trump said North Korea had made unacceptable demands about lifting sanctions, telling reporters at a press conference, "Sometimes you have to walk." North Korea, meanwhile, has disputed the Trump administration's account of their demands.

Pompeo repeatedly insisted Friday that the administration intends to continue discussions with North Korea, but would not offer details on the current status of negotiations over Pyongyang's nuclear program.

"It's the administration's desire that we continue to have conversations about this," Pompeo said. "As the president said in Hanoi, the offer that they made simply didn't rise to the level that was acceptable given what they were asking for in exchange."

The US has made it clear that it won't ease up any of the crushing sanctions until North Korea removes the only thing saving them from US aggression, nukes. And yet, even though there's no risk to the US in agreeing to relaxing the sanctions, and they'd have the support of China, South Korea and Russia, they won't even do that. One would think that certain players in the US like the situation as it is:

• The war-loving Deep State is Trump's biggest obstacle to peace on the Korean peninsula
• Rambouillet ruse? Why Trump could be setting up his North Korea talks to fail
• US-North Korea summit flop details: Kim offered to shut facilities for Trump's partial removal of sanctions
• North Korea will denuclearize for lifting of sanctions - Trump claims he won't press for a deadline - UPDATE: No agreement reached between Trump and Kim at summit

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