Things going very well, Trump says after talk with S Korea's Moon

Trump has demanded the North give up its weapons, and Washington is pressing for it to do so in a complete, verifiable and irreversible way.

Pyongyang is demanding as yet unspecified security guarantees to discuss its arsenal.

NK has better be prepared to do far more than "discuss" it's nuclear arsenal.

"Just had a long and very good talk with President Moon of South Korea. Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set," Trump wrote on Twitter.

"Also spoke to Prime Minister (Shinzo) Abe of Japan to inform him of the ongoing negotiations," he wrote.

Abe is obviously not being "sidelined". At least for those who can read.

Looks like Trump is learning that talking isn't a waste of time.

Good.

I believe that the behavioral change we're seeing in Kim is fundamentally about timing. After many years enhancing his nuclear program and recently ratcheting up testing, Kim's finally reached a point where he needs his program to be. And that's helping him feel more powerful and less vulnerable. No longer concerned about survival. He can now protect himself and his country against aggression. So the time has come for him to more comfortably expand his horizons. Whatever form that takes.

However, common sense in a way would indicate that his meaning of denuclearization is getting lost in translation. I doubt that it means to Kim what it does to us. Namely, destroy his weapons and dismantle his program. And thus return him to a state of feeling powerless and vulnerable. Heck, many in our own country live in fear of being without their weapons; of our government coming for their guns. And for the same reason, feeling vulnerable and unable to defend or protect themselves. That kind of thinking is a gillion times bigger for Kim.

Thus, denuclearization, I believe, would require extraordinary extreme pre conditions. Like, if we and other nuclear countries give up ours/theirs, then he will give up his. Or something like that. But I hope my assessment is wrong.

Burning BushToday 06:59 am JST

Trump fulfilled his mission to bring peace to Korea,

He hasn't fulfilled anything yet.

I find this current event to be fascinating. Had a long conversation with my daughter, who is in U.S. about this. We enjoyed sharing our thoughts and perspectives on this (an old guy vs. that of a younger person or an expatriated dude vs. a "3rd culture kid..per se" now immersed in the U.S.). As usual the talk stimulated me to think more. I find myself going back and forth as to what i think is going on.

One thing I have been wondering is that whether or not China and North Korea are "playing" the U.S. and the west. Patrick Monaghan wrote a very interesting article about a week ago in the publication "The Diplomat". His piece is an opinion piece but he has some pretty good credentials. His article points out the dramatic growth in exports to China from S. Korea and how China is gaining more influence in S. Korea, not only diplomatically, but culturally as well. It would seem that the Koreans would see China as a much more stable ally (even more so now that China has a leader for life) while U.S. policy can swing dramatically due to the election cycles. It would be fascinating if China turned South Korea and is now backing a unified Korea (which they opposed for so long) and both the North and South are in on the game and this new unified Korea would be allied with China. It would be an amazing and fascinating foreign policy coup by China and it could completely re-align East Asia.

On the other hand what did Mike Pompeo and Kim Jong Un talk about when Pompeo was in North Korea (or is this part of the "game" as well). Also I wonder what is really going on with the collapsed test site.

Regardless we are watching a fascinating time in East Asian history. I still want to think that the U.S. more hardened policy led Kim to re-think things but I remain unconvinced.

It will be interesting to see what happens when (or if) Trump meets Kim and even more interesting to see what happens afterwards.

Sorry I forgot to add a link to the article I referenced. For those interested it is a short and very good read.

https://thediplomat.com/2018/04/is-the-us-south-korea-alliance-in-trouble/

A complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula means both countries under umbrellas, SK to US and NK to China. That is the ideal military structure or more countries will appear to build up nukes-weapons.

However, common sense in a way would indicate that his meaning of denuclearization is getting lost in translation.

I don't think so. Mattis, Bolton and Trump all clearly indicated what they want and will accept.

I doubt that it means to Kim what it does to us.

And that is why Pompeo will make the wishes of the three men perfectly clear so that there is absolutely NO confusion on Kim's part.

Namely, destroy his weapons and dismantle his program. And thus return him to a state of feeling powerless and vulnerable.

Guess what, life is hard for dictators.

Heck, many in our own country live in fear of being without their weapons; of our government coming for their guns.

But we are not threatening to blow up another country.

And for the same reason, feeling vulnerable and unable to defend or protect themselves. That kind of thinking is a gillion times bigger for Kim.

We don't brainwash and teach our kids to hate NK, we don't spend time beating, torturing, not feeding millions of Americans, subjecting to the most brutalist forms of torture, indoctrinate the country into believing NK wants to invade and destroy us, lock up anyone that dares to speak out or to think differently. We don't have thousands of people attempting to rise life, limb and family just to be able to eat. Kim has only one option that the three men want to hear. Which port do we pull in and where do we pick up the nukes, that's pretty much it.

Trump fulfilled his mission to bring peace to Korea, now America's full military might can be redirected from Asia to the enemy that Trump's bosses want clobbered, Iran.

Watch as US forces in Japan and Korea get their orders to deploy to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, carriers will be sent to the PG as well.

Why bother with Iran. At Israels request? If any Western countries should be getting involved than its the Europeans not the U.S. The overall stability of the Middle East is a far, far greater concern for Europe when you have a direct bridge between Turnkey and the Eastern frontiers of the E.U and all the illegal immigration/refugee concerns that brings. On the contrary, I don't see many filling boats headed for America's shores. If any Western nations should be leading policy on Iran, its the E.U since they will be dealing with the consequences.

China turned South Korea and is now backing a unified Korea (which they opposed for so long) and both the North and South are in on the game and this new unified Korea would be allied with China. 

Firstly, I see no evidence that China is backing a unified Korea at this point. A unified Korea under Seoul?Playing a game fraught with danger from China's perspective I would have thought when at any time Koreans can easily elect a new leadership that is anti-China. Secondly, the only allies that China has are with either known dictatorships, those in the making and countries which have very troubled relations with the West - Russia, Cambodia, Pakistan. Perhaps the Philippines, but America still has military assets in the Philippines. They don't have a single truly democratic ally. Not one. They do have a lot of economic interests in Africa and elsewhere, but allies? No, not really.

Aligning with China automatically means Korea's relations with the West go backwards, plus Japan, at a time when the U.S will increasingly push to move their supply chain away from China and its allies towards other countries. The rest of the West will follow in time. The E.U will follow in time, especially when you see very significant mergers between U.S and E.U businesses in response to China'a increasing competitiveness.

They may gain the big Chinese market but lose the Western market. Also, they need to consider India in the coming decades and the role it will play that can be projected 30, 40 years into the future as the largest democracy in the world with the largest population in the world. India is being groomed to become the head of a rejuvenated Commonwealth in time taking over from Britain as the leader of a club of 50+ countries. And that club doesn't and will never include China. India just doubled their donations to the Commonwealth and London is actively encouraging them to play a greater role. Many Commonwealth countries are in Africa....Can you see the role the Commonwealth will play in 30 years when India is one of the top 3 world economies, with a combined Commonwealth population at 2.4 billion and rising? Think about it.

Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.

Aesop

He hasn't fulfilled anything yet.

For the first time ever Ossan, I agree with you.

It's like Chinese whispers here. We can see what's happening directly from Korea. Do we honestly need Trump to tell us? Moon has to tell Trump who then has to relay the message to Abe. The poor guy, Abe - always the last to know now!

CrazyJoe, I tend to believe the same. Un has nukes now so he’s ready to sit at the table, probably thinking he now has bargaining power. He didn’t finished building them so he could throw them away without concessions.

Tokyo-Engr, I tend to agree with you as well. Un visited China last month and who knows what they talked about. There’s no way Un makes a move without their blessing, and there’s no way it involves hurting China or dimshing their influence in the region.

That being said, who know what happens. Maybe it’s a trap. Maybe it’s not. Either way, talking directly is the only solution. Just limiting their ability to export their technology would be a win.

Coattails firmly being held onto there.

The US is in a constant state of threatening to blow up another country. Trump was engaged in just such rhetoric with Kim a matter of months ago. Conservatives sure don't have much of a memory.

The US does have thousands of families that wake every morning and fight for food. Conservatives want to take away those families' help.

Iran, Iran Iran....

All will go well as long as trumpy does not involve himself and spoil the party. I fear this will not be the case.

BB: You have alluded to Trump's bosses numerous times. You have never provided clarification when asked.

Who are you referring to when you write, "Trump's bosses"?

If conditions improve on the Korean peninsula. will it be because of Trump, or in spite of Trump?

The US is in a constant state of threatening to blow up another country.

The US didn’t wake up one morning and decided...hmmmm, I really want to blow up North Korea.

Trump was engaged in just such rhetoric with Kim a matter of months ago. Conservatives sure don't have much of a memory.

As he should and thankfully he did. Nobel Peace Prize should be on its way soon if this all works out.

The US does have thousands of families that wake every morning and fight for food. Conservatives want to take away those families' help.

And the poorest are led in States by money hungry Democrats.

The US not waking up one day and deciding to blow up the DPRK has nothing to do with the fact that the US does threaten other countries. Irrelevant replies mean you're backed into a corner with nothing.

The poorest are in democratic states? Try a little research before posting:

Many of the states with the highest rates of poverty in the USA are located in the country´s deep south, and these include West Virginia, Kentucky, and Louisiana.

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/us-poverty-rate-by-state.html

West Virginia: Republican controlled.

Kentucky: Tepunlivan controlled.

Louisiana: Republican controlled.

Facts are pretty difficult, I guess.