US Remains Open to North Korea Talks Despite Rocket Site Allegations

Trump: We'll let you know in about a year

While officials continue to hype the satellite images of a roof having been repaired at a North Korean rocket testing site, John Bolton has revealed that President Trump is still open to possible talks in the future, saying it is “too soon” to say if that will happen.

This would seem forgiving of Trump, except that the satellite images don’t prove anything related to a test is happening. Moreover, Trump conceded just the day before that he was behind the reports coming out in the first place.

Trump now says he finds it “disappointing” that the roof in question was repaired, and as far as the future of talks he said “we’ll see. We’ll let you know in about a year,” without providing any specifics.

Much of this gives the impression of it being a US negotiating tactic, providing Trump with a justification to be officially angry at North Korea, while continuing to give lip-service to the talks after their recent failure. This way, a temporary lack of progress can be blamed on North Korea.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.