The Hanoi summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un came to a literally unceremonious end on Thursday, with the closing signing ceremony canceled and talks ending an hour and a half early. President Trump followed this up with a conference declaring that the US had chosen to “walk away.”
He tried not to present this as a failure, and expressed hope that deals would eventually be made in the future. At the same time, he presented future talks as all but assured, while trying to present North Korea’s current position as unreasonable.
But what actually happened? Since Trump’s statement, North Korea and South Korea have both offered their own contradictory reports on what actually happened, and where the talks are going. This gives us three distinct stories on what was offered, what was rejected, and why.
US Version:
According to President Trump, the split came entirely on the basis of North Korea’s demand for “full” sanctions relief. Though he dodged some reporters’ questions seeking specifics, he gave the impression that the North Korean proposal was to close the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, but only for full lifting of all international sanctions. Trump walked away at this point.
Trump said that there was basic agreement to have more talks in the future, and that the US and North Korea would continue to talk until a future meeting.
North Korea’s Version:
Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said Trump’s claim was inaccurate. He says North Korea offered to dismantle all its nuclear material production, including everything around Yongbyon, and was only asking for “partial” sanction relief. It was at this point Trump walked away.
Ri was much less hopeful of future talks, saying that North Korea’s position isn’t going to change, and that right now North Kora believes that the US is not ready to make a deal. Subsequent reports from North Korea’s state media, however, did anticipate future talks would happen.
South Korea Says:
Former South Korean Unification Minister Chong se-hyun, however, suggests that neither of these was the real problem. Instead, John Bolton showed up at the last minute, and started demanding that North Korea not only provide a full accounting of its nuclear program’s past, but also full accounts of North Korea’s chemical and biological weapons to.
Interestingly, this didn’t immediately derail the talks, but led North Korea to ask for more sanctions relief in return. It was at that point, apparently, that the US walked away.
It’s easy enough to believe Bolton could eff up a wet dream.
The push-broom alone makes me envy the chemically castrated. He’s like Mr. McFeely with a mailbag full of unrelenting doom.
Bolton should really take retirement leave. The dementia is starting to show.
If it was age-related dementia, that would actually make him a somewhat sympathetic figure, although he’d still need to go.
But he’s ALWAYS been this batshit insane evil. It’s not a new defect in his makeup, it IS his makeup.
John,,Trump was an idiot in putting him in place.
Only a perverted subconscious, sleeping mind would allow Bolton to enter a wet dream.
There was no wet dream taking place. Trump is unbending on sanctions, even partially… the blame lands squarely on his feet. Kim should take the Iranian approach and just try to survive this nutball presidency. No reason to throw away his country’s deepest protections over the egotistical demands of a temporary environment.
antar,,What POTUS do you think will do any better than Trump,,or even try????? Do tell.
According to Justin, crazy Bolton showing up at the last minute is all part of the plan. Everybody runs around with their hair on fire for a while, then cooler heads will prevail. Moon Jae-in will get started building that trans-Korea railway linking the South, the North, and Russia which would effectively end the sanctions and connect Korea to the New Silk Road. Then, Moon can give the big f-ck you to the USA over their troops continuing to occupy the Korean peninsula.
Presto, the Korean War is over, Trump is one smart negotiator, and Justin was right all along, just like he keeps telling us.
Too bad he has turned off the comments function on his articles.
Back to the monthly drills of practicing nuking North Korea and Kim threatening to launch missiles at Hawaii, Guam and Japan. Phew, peace has been averted. I’m sure there is a lot of relief inside the military industrial complex right now.
…so the solution is….get rid of John Bolton? That would be my favorite plan.
And who enthusiastically hired Bolton? Who is the Boss?
Get rid of Trump!
Careful, the only thing worse than Trump is Pence.
Right, therefore Pence must go too, the whole neocon regime must go. It is a matter of principles.
It is the same reaction I got when calling for Obama’s impeachment – so you want Biden? Do you think the next president will be better?
I don’t know.
Interventionist presidents who don’t give a s**t about the constitution must go, it should be clear that they are not Gods, they should obey the constitution and some universal morality and reason.
Regarding NK. Obviously Moon wants peace, who gave Trump the right to sabotage it via sanctions – bring back the troops and mind your own business.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51181-c.htm
Josh,,no matter how much we fret,,,reality,,,Game Over!
dave,,That is a foolish statement,,based on what??,,your fear that he is going to shun the gay agenda?
Maybe it’s because he’s a warmongering phony Christian. And let me guess, you have a problem with gays.
wars, I care not what is done in private between 2 individuals, not my bizzness. Unless you want to make it my bizzness… I would not question that Pence is a Christian, or that he believes in a Creator,,,but that does not mean that he may support issues I do not.
He’s a phony. I’m an atheist and I follow the teachings of Jesus Christ more than Pence.
Wars,,Now you have made me laugh!
Why? I didn’t say anything funny.
He’s a Christian fascist.
That’s the DS plan. Same as Nixon’s VP, Agnew.
Josh, You can try that in 2020,,for now he is the legal POTUS! He may be a fool,,but he is a fool that apperas to be at least trying,,,I think……..
Indeed. But humans, Americans in particular, are impatient. They want it all, and they want it now. But every serious enterprise takes time. The Korea affair must be moved forward by all the participants, particularly the two Koreas must be pushed together by their mutual desire for peace. For the mutual the benefits of a resolution to the left-over US militarist bs of a long-since-ended Korean War. The US lost that war, but since refusing to accept defeat is built into the Imperial mind-set, the Koreas continue to be burdened by what is really the US’s “problem”.
Bolton and the rest of the Neocons are the source of the Imperial mind-set. They want ever more of the American jackboot on the throat of the world. Discrediting and disposing of that mind-set — the Wolfowitz Doctrine — will take time. Bolton and the Neocons must build their record of destructive behavior — and build it out in the open — to the point where neutering the Neocons will be enthusiastically desired and politically “profitable”. Watch for it just before the 2020 elections.
Trump’s “walk away”, which can now be laid at the feet of Bolton and the Neocons, furthers the goal of neutering the Neocons, without inconveniencing in the least the gradual and eventually beneficial outcome of the NK/SK/US negotiations for peace on the Korean peninsula. Be patient, things are moving in the right direction.
Either that, or Trump is a gutless idiot. I don’t think so, but time will tell.
John? Bolton again…????? Congratulatons to the Neoconservatives and Israeli firsters for derailing the Presidents push for an agreement we all could live with… Apparently, we need to humble N. Korea to show WE are the Boss & N. Korea is a pesky delinquent…. I guess showing our intransigence is a sign of strength to the Bolton Neoz and their assorted ilk. Not a very good strategy for breakthrough agreements. But if posturING and strength through intransigence is going to rule out deplomacy, perhaps it’s better that the negotiations went aground. Still I hope for the constructive dialog that preceded the centric arival of neoconservative Bolton and his deep state agenda of American hegemony worldwide…
Trump appointed him and is his superior and as such owns his underling’s actions. It’s not some deep state hobgoblin derailing Trump’s path to peace, it’s Trump incessantly shooting from the hip whichever way the wind happens to be blowing that day.
Except Trump hired Bolton and can fire him at any time…….
Little known fact; John Bolton’s middle name is actually Monkey-Wrench. Swear to god! Google that sh*t.
… Its Robert, which means ‘Bright fame’. John means ‘God’s grace’, Bolton means ‘manor’.
I think that in context with the man translates into ‘he burns famous houses down’ or ‘famously burns houses down’. Oddly appropriate for a designated Trump killer and bombing chickenhawk whose actions could take out the U.S. as well.
The Plato Retreat habitual left his wife to anger while he scored cheap sex with G-d knows whom. A bit like what is going down now: No pun intended…!!!!!
Bolton is the devil incarnate in the US-world these days.
A good analysis and question. Trump, though, did enter the process warning not to expect much, and this was a hastily organized meet. Vietnam is the last place you’d see the U.S. signing a peace treaty with an Asian opponent; the Vietnam War still triggers bad vibes. Also, we are too far from 2020 for the optics of any major agreement’s impact on the election to be clear.
If Bolton convinced Trump to let Bolton himself barge in with new demands, making Kim flinch and either give concessions or quit himself, then instead, Kim jumps right on board, that would be discombobulating. Trump isn’t bad at Plan B’s on the spot, but Bolton seems to need a little time to regroup on a Plan A fail.
Neither Trump nor Bolton may have been prepared for what appears to be a high degree of Korean and Asian unity behind the scenes. The U.S. may have far less influence over the Korean rapprochement process than they care to talk about. As Eurasians come together on their own terms and priorities, U.S. hegemony needs to sell itself as a plus, not a liability.
https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=hUdbE8-BI5A (Interview about book “The Future is Asian”)
Nothing went wrong. Nothing happened, as planned. Kim meet was a distraction from Cohen confessions. But the new morons at the WH are too incompetent to work it out. Is everyone using unpaid interns for serious stuff? This is a circus.
John,,You are OFF the rails,,again! GeeZ!! LOL!
Narco Rube recently showed the pics of Khadafy when he had a nuclear weapons program and a picture just before he died after beaten up, after he had given up his nuclear weapons program. Maybe the North Koreans saw that pic.
“John Bolton showed up.” So there you have it. That this warmonger is part of the administration is part of a larger problem.
Where did he show up from? Venezuela trouble making. He’s working on messing up two near wars.
How did John Bolton just show up “at the last minute”? Was he invited? Did he sneak aboard the plane whilst no one was looking? Was he disguised as a book so Trump wouldn’t notice him?
“Was he disguised as a book so Trump wouldn’t notice him?”
Good one, wars. Made me smile.
Of course, Bonkers Bolton just showed up at the last minute; he’s a total psychopath who doesn’t give a hoot about Trump’s summit with Kim Jong-Un. And for whether or not he was invited, the truth is, he wasn’t. The meeting was for Trump and Kim themselves, not for a total lunatic to burst in and sabotage it.
I believe Bonkers slipped onto the plane unnoticed and hid in the back somewhere so Trump wouldn’t see him. Now, Trump should immediately fire him. This is at least the 2nd time he’s sabotaged his boss’s agenda. Trump never should’ve hired him in the first place, nor should the Senate have confirmed him, either .. both are at fault here.
Trump and Kim need to have another summit ASAP; and this time, Trump has to make sure Bonkers doesn’t sneak onto Air Force One again and disrupt the summit.
If anyone snuck on the plane, those in charge of security should be looking for a new job.
And Thomas Knapp has pointed out several times that Bolton’s position doesn’t require Senate confirmation.
To me who has been involved with U235 enrichment for nuclear reactors the North Korean proposal makes 100% sense.
For openers: ‘everything’ was not on the table from our side. For negotiations President Trump had only our sanctions chips ‘on the table’. No longer “the biggest button”.
In the nuclear arena of the negotiations there are two major issues: the explosive U235 and the actual bombs with their delivery system. To begin the process with “dismantle all its nuclear material production” for a partial lifting of sanctions is not unreasonable but it is actually much weaker than what Iran was ordered to do by the “5+1” namely to do that too plus dilute or export all bomb-grade U235. You do not want North Korea to keep a large supply of nuclear explosive. Was President Trump ready to accept this specific “partial” deal which, by his own views, would have been even worse than the “worst agreement in the history of our nation?” That would be astonishing because it would actually create a “denuclearization” of North Korea in three steps: closing Yongbon, destroying or diluting for reactor-use all bomb-grade U235, destroying all nuclear bombs and with it our assortment of chips would have to be cut into three instead of two portions.
Bolton’s demand for the inclusion of chemical and biological weapons in the negotiations is not unreasonable. Certainly the South Koreans would not want North Korea to have a large arsenal of such weapons. The glaring problem is that “Shanghai” was only about “denuclearization” which means that President Trump went to Shanghai and now to Hanoi totally unprepared. In comparison to the “5+1” negotiators with Iran he is a bad amateur.
Another question is “why did Bolton, who knew all along what the negotiations were about, wait until the President was in Hanoi?”
I cannot enter the thoughts of Kim but I would not be surprised to learn that he thinks “these Americans are totally unreliable. What will be their next demand? Regime change?”
I believe that the statements “the negotiations will continue” are laughable for now. I also hope that our President has come to understand that these negotiations are much to complex to be done by him alone.
“The glaring problem is that “Shanghai” was only about “denuclearization” which means that President Trump went to Shanghai and now to Hanoi totally unprepared. In comparison to the “5+1″ negotiators with Iran he is a bad amateur.”
You don’t get it. Showing up “unprepared” — as you characterize it — is actually a viable strategy, a better strategy from Trump-the-better-strategist than the over-think bs “planning” of the previous class of “experts-at-failure”.
Recall the dictum: “No Battle Plan Survives First Contact With The Enemy.”
Which means that no plan of action in engagement with an adversary is good for squat. Why? Because in a conflict situation the adversary’s “plan” will be to disrupt your plan. Consequently, all that will happen in trying to stick with “the plan” will be to delay the adjustment necessitated by the adversary’s first countermove.
The “plan” of choice of the US military behemoth is bomb or threaten to bomb “the enemy” back into the stone age, whereupon quite naturally they will see the error their ways and be chastened and surrender, and be respectful and compliant before your big dick big balls big dog superiority. How’s that been working out for the US over the last twenty — no, make that 55 — years?
(Answer: Lost in Viet Nam; lost in Korea. Took a break. Won in Gulf War 1. Threw away that victory in Gulf War 2. “Won” (those are “if you can call it winning” quotes) in Libya. Lost in Syria. Lost in Ukraine. The great Hegemon. The Most Powerful Military in All of Human History!!!)
Trump goes in light on his feet, no overworked and burdensome “Plan”, ready to listen, evaluate, and adjust instantly, as required. That’s how you win. Trump’s critics see this as lack-of-preparedness, impulsiveness, and caprice. The same clueless so-called ‘experts’ — ‘losers’ would be more apt — who have demonstrated over at least the last twenty years that they don’t know how to win. And the last thing they can grasp — much less acknowledge — is Trump’s political and strategic talent. Not to worry. Trump will achieve his success, and shed and discredit the “expert-loser” class.
(Would it be gratuitous to cap this comment with a little ol’ emphatic “MAGA!”?)
What the heck,… MAGA! Yeehah!
John Bolton. He is an Enemy of the People and of the State and he deserves to be sent to where he can reassess his life choices. Or the State will be happy to save the People the expense of his incarceration with a more…. speedy solution.
Trump should have Bolton’s mustache removed and made into a wearable piece. Then he should don the item and appear next to him on the MSM.