Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that there had been understandings reached with North Korea on in-depth verification of the denuclearization process, and a lot of other issues related to it, that weren’t written explicitly in the official document shown to the public.
Pompeo also talked about the length of the disarmament process, saying the US wants to see major parts of the disarmament done in the next two or two and a half years. President Trump has long said he expected denuclearization to happen in phases.
The time-frame likely reflects US political realities, with the administration hoping that they can have major progress to show off to the voters during the 2020 presidential election. Pompeo added that Trump would restart the frozen wargames with South Korea if North Korea stopped showing good will in the process.
North Korea’s Kim Jong-un had already committed to denclearization in conversations with multiple other officials before the Trump summit, including during summits with South Korea’s Moon Jae-in and visits to China. Though the document signed with Trump didn’t include a lot of details, the US and North Korea were said to be discussing the process long before the summit itself began.
To US, the denuclearization means, i suggest, destruction of all the present NW [nuclear weapons] and all of the sites, labs, etc., which make NW and/or all WMD.
But the more accurate-adequate term of what US wants, the “destruction”; of all WMD, has not been, afaik, uttered by any side so far.
What is “afaik”?
It’s an acronym for “as far as i know.”
The first step that the government of North Korea can take at almost any time to show that it is serious about giving up on its nuclear arsenal is almost certainly also the easiest. Eventually North Korea must rejoin the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons so why not now and soon? The re-signing of this treaty does not mean that North Korea cannot have a nuclear arsenal. After all, our nation has both nuclear weapons and is a party of that treaty and so does Russia. If North Korea becomes a party to that treaty again it implicitly accepts IAEA inspections when the so-called “denuclearization” begins.
That first step may be more difficult domestically than internationally. Where do the armed forces of North Korea stand on this issue? Does anyone know? I do not.