Describing his recent visit to North Korea, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed he has promised North Korea “a future brimming with peace and prosperity” if they agree to denuclearization. This comes following reports earlier this week that China and South Korea have already made similar economic aid offers to them.
North Korea has expressed support for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, seeking assurances the US won’t deploy its own arms there either. This is part of broader peace talks being discussed in a recent South Korea summit, aiming to end the Korean War after 68 years.
Pompeo’s offers may be stretching the bounds of credibility, however, as he says the US is prepared to “work with North Korea to achieve prosperity on the par with our South Korean friends.” South Korea is an extremely wealthy nation, while North Korea is disastrously poor.
While an end to global isolation and offers of infrastructure aid could doubtless help North Korea’s economy, turning them into the South Korea of the north is not something the US government can realistically deliver as a reward for good behavior.
South Korea’s offers of railroads and power plants are likely to have an impact, and are tangible things they can deliver to the north. Pompeo’s offer sounds is meant to sound grander, but is like on specifics.
Kim must be dim to believe America on a whim
but, not to worry he will be dead in a hurry and,
the yanks will be laughing at him.
Will the red sox be laughing too?
High level US government officials were posing for photos, smiling and shaking hands with Kadaffi . A few short years later….
Who would believe one word of what an American official says?
First, a peace treaty. Would the USA honor that?
People here seem to think that N Korea will be attacked the moment they give up their nuclear weapons. Why? They have no resources. They still have a huge, dug in, army. They are still protected by the Chinese. Decades went by when they had no nukes under these circumstances and were not attacked at all.
You guys are not being logical.
Their nukes are the only chips of value the North Korean leaders have on the table. As soon as they lay them on a option that can get whisked away on a whim, they are very exposed to sinking back into an irrelevant nuisance, at least as far as the US is concerned.
The NK negotiators must have flash cards explaining how bait and switch works in every pocket of their suits and tunics printed on the back of a picture of Kim Jong Nam.
Ask yourself, would you place all your chips on the integrity of an offer from a still-wet-behind-the-ears US SOS who inherited a department with abysmal morale, conveyed on behalf of President Trump?
They have to hedge their bets.