For the first time in months, US and North Korean officials are going to
be holding talks this weekend in Sweden. The talks are, according to
reports, to be held in Sweden. Analysts say they are expecting North
Korea to come in with more confidence and more aggressive positions.
These will be the first talks since the firing of John Bolton, a major
opponent of the peace process. That he’s gone is sure to make North
Korea happy, and likely would be a big reason to think the talks could
make headway.
These are just working-level talks, so it’s not nearly as high stakes as
a summit. Still, being the first time the two sides have met at all in
quite some time means it’s likely to set the stage for a new attitude
going into the process.
President Trump downplayed recent North Korean rocket tests as “very
standard,” and insisted that so long as North Korea wants to negotiate,
the US will be negotiating with them.
They will end the same as the other talks. We’ll be told that progress has been made and future talks will be scheduled. But then we’ll refuse to give anything in return for NK’s denuclearizing and the talks will be stalled again. Rinse and repeat.
Bolton’s sabotage trick was his re-definition of “de-nuclearization” as America-gets-everything-before-Kim-gets-anything-if-then.
Other meanings are possible. South Korea shows the way on some. So far, the US has pretended those ideas don’t even exist, that there is nothing even to discuss except Bolton’s demands.
So now, will we move past that? It isn’t clear either way. That is the key question, not just “talks” but actual communication.
The headline is a little off, it insinuates the US would be talking about it’s own denuclearization along with NK.