The North Korea Thread

HAPPY ASIANS HAPPY ASIANS EVERYWHERE I LOOK THERE ARE HAPPY ASIANS WITH THEIR CRINKLY EYES AND GUMDROP SMILES

This does remind of a recent conversation I had with a Japanese friend of mine - he doesn’t pay that close of an attention to US politics but gave Trump credit for getting Kim to tone down his rhetoric around missile testing.

He did concede that Trump was likely responsible for a lot of that being ratcheted up in the first place but he did make an interesting point that from a purely Japanese POV Trump would probably rate a 7 or 8 /10 rating on how he’s handling the N.Korea situation.

Reasonable enough, though I have to say that these things can only be judged over the long haul.The NKs have had numerous periods where they’ve been fairly quiet for a while, only to wake up and do something nasty.

Jesus. Trump is really off his meds today. First Iran, now NK. Why won’t someone slap his phone out of his tiny hands?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-spy-agencies-north-korea-is-working-on-new-missiles/2018/07/30/b3542696-940d-11e8-a679-b09212fb69c2_story.html

U.S. spy agencies are seeing signs that North Korea is constructing new missiles at a factory that produced the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States, according to officials familiar with the intelligence.

Newly obtained evidence, including satellite photos taken in recent weeks, indicates that work is underway on at least one and possibly two liquid-fueled ICBMs at a large research facility in Sanumdong, on the outskirts of Pyongyang, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe classified intelligence.

The findings are the latest to show ongoing activity inside North Korea’s nuclear and missile facilities at a time when the country’s leaders are engaged in arms talks with the United States. The new intelligence does not suggest an expansion of North Korea’s capabilities but shows that work on advanced weapons is continuing weeks after President Trump declared in a Twitter posting that Pyongyang was “no longer a Nuclear Threat.”

North Korea has played this perfectly, in that now they can do shit like this and Trump won’t call them on it, because to do so would contradict the fantasy he had created about how North Korea is nice now.

Who could have known that North Korea could be so complicated?

Yeah maybe we need a new policy and some patience. We can give it a cool name like Strategic Patience or something.

President Donald Trump on Friday asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel an upcoming trip to North Korea, arguing on Twitter that the United States has not made “sufficient progress” on denuclearization talks.

But…but…but… Herr trump said it was “mission accomplished” and he fixed it all!

trump’s foreign policy is as good as his bankruptcies

The suspension has been suspended.

I hope Donnie hasn’t already cleared shelf space for his Nobel Peace Prize.

President Donald Trump told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during their Singapore summit in June that he’d sign a declaration to end the Korean War soon after their meeting, according to multiple sources familiar with the negotiations.

But since then, the Trump administration has repeatedly asked Pyongyang to dismantle most of its nuclear arsenal first, before signing such a document.

That decision is likely what has led to the current stalemate in negotiations between the two countries — and the increasingly hostile rhetoric from North Korea.

“It makes sense why the North Koreans are angry,” one source told me. “Having Trump promise a peace declaration and then moving the goalposts and making it conditional would be seen as the US reneging on its commitments.”
[…]
According to two people familiar with Trump and Kim’s discussions in Singapore during the June 12 summit, Trump promised the North Korean leader that he’d sign a peace declaration soon after they met. (The two sources requested anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.) It’s still unclear whether Kim requested this or if Trump brought it up, and whether Trump promised to sign the declaration by a certain date.

A source also noted that North Korea believes Trump made the same promise to Kim Yong Chol, a top North Korean official close to Kim Jong Un, at the White House on June 1 — 11 days before the summit.

That tracks with Trump’s comments during a press conference in Singapore after meeting with Kim. “What we signed today had a lot of things included. You had things that were not included that we got after the deal was signed,” he said in response to a question about whether both leaders had discussed a peace agreement.


Idiot Hitler strikes again!

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1034914371099676674

STATEMENT FROM THE WHITE HOUSE

President Donald J. Trump feels strongly that North Korea is under tremendous pressure from China because of our major trade disputes with the Chinese Government. At the same time, we also know that China is providing North Korea with considerable aid, including money, fuel, fertilizer and various other commodities. This is not helpful! Nonetheless, the President believes that his relationship with Kim Jong Un is a very good and warm one, and there is no reason at this time to be spending large amounts of money on joint U.S.-South Korea war games. Besides, the President can instantly start the joint exercises again with South Korea, and Japan, if he so chooses. If he does, they will be far bigger than ever before. As for the U.S.–China trade disputes, and other differences, they will be resolved in time by President Trump and China’s great President Xi Jinping. Their relationship and bond remain very strong.

If he does, they will be far bigger than ever before

Yuge war games. Only the best war games. Better than any war games Obama had.

Denuclearisation going great:

Remember when trump fixed the North Korean situation and endlessly patted himself on the back?