Early Tuesday, John Bolton told the Wall Street Journal that North Korea
had not complied with the deal reached with the US during last year’s
Singapore summit. President Trump spoke hours later, however, defending
Kim Jong Un, and insisting that he had “kept his word.”
“He kept his word. There’s no nuclear testing. There’s no large, there’s
no long-range missiles going up,” Trump insisted. He added that all
North Korea had done was very short-term, short-range tests, and that he
considers those a “whole different deal.”
Trump also reported that he had received a “beautiful” letter from Kim, calling it “very warm” and expressing confidence that the two sides would eventually be able to reach an agreement.
Trump and Kim had a very positive meeting in Singapore last year, but
the February Hanoi Summit ended in failure. Since then, there has been
no visible progress on talks, and North Korean state media has expressed
growing impatience, calling on the US to try a new approach.
The big obstacle has been that North Korea’s commitment to eliminate its
nuclear arsenal is expected to take quite some time, but the US has so
far ruled out any easing of sanctions or international hostility toward
the North Koreans until the entire process is completed. Since the US
has continued to increase sanctions in this time, many in North Korea
are doubting if the US is approaching this with honorable intentions.
Trump and Kim get along quite well, by all indications, but North Korea
has blamed Bolton, as well as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for
derailing the progress that the leaders have made. They have requested
Pompeo in particular not be included in any future talks.
Bonkers Bolton is probably behind the ridiculous war propaganda against Kim and the recent news that Kim has tortured and murdered some of the people in N. Korea’s government.
Would expect ANYTHING else from a known warmonger and saber-rattler? That’s why rational adults wouldn’t have appointed Bolton to an unelected position of great power where he can act on his sociopathic worldview.
For your entertainment pleasure, the good cop/bad cop show continues. It has no ending so grab some popcorn and enjoy.
Extra plot twist in that the ‘good cop’ is the one who hired the ‘bad cops’ and put them in a position where they could derail talks. But rather than let us know that after the fact, it’s all well-known beforehand. Now THAT’S the real plot-twist!
‘Many in N Korea’ are really smart. If all these US threats ever get us anything concrete, even more threats will work miracles, right…?
I don’t even care anymore. 10 bucks says the liar-in-chief received nothing from Kim, but telling the American public that only His Sacred Trumpness can broker peace, and that to prove it, Kim wrote Him a beautiful missive filled with promises of the future, not addressed to the American people or the State Dept, but Donald J Trump, himself. Savior of the world!