Posted on 05/15/2018 12:11:24 PM PDT by GIdget2004
North Korea said Wednesday it is canceling high-level talks with South Korea planned for later in the day due to ongoing military exercises between the South and the United States.
The North's Korean Central News Agency said the Max Thunder drills between the South Korean and U.S. air forces are a rehearsal for invasion of the North and a provocation amid warming inter-Korean ties.
It also called into question whether next month's summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump can go ahead as planned.
"This exercise targeting us, which is being carried out across South Korea, is a flagrant challenge to the Panmunjom Declaration and an intentional military provocation running counter to the positive political development on the Korean Peninsula," the KCNA report said. "The United States will also have to undertake careful deliberations about the fate of the planned North Korea-U.S. summit in light of this provocative military ruckus jointly conducted with the South Korean authorities."
The two-week exercise kicked off Friday, involving some 100 warplanes, including eight F-22 radar-evading fighters and an unspecified number of B-52 bombers and F-15K jets.
The high-level talks were meant to take place on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjom to discuss follow-up measures to the two Korean leaders' summit last month.
The summit agreement, billed the Panmunjom Declaration, called for formally ending the 1950-53 Korean War within the year and pursuing "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula.
(Excerpt) Read more at english.yonhapnews.co.kr ...
Just tell them you’ll delay them til after the summit, and if there is a deal, then you may cancel them.
Hang tough but imho China feels it wants to keep NK firmly on the Chinese side of the ledger. They probably are offering aid if NK doesn’t compromise with us.
You may recall Kim had stated we don’t have to call off maneuvers with SK.
Cancel nothing.
Testing Trump. Right on schedule.
Brinksmanship, doesn’t change anything.
My suspicion is that if there is a deal, we will pull our troops out altogether. We’re not going to get a verifiable deal from Fatso unless we give in on everything except the verification.
Oh, well.
While I am not savvy or learned in the ways of Foreign Affairs, this is my theory:
NOKO canceled Soko for now thinking that they could then also say as a teaser “we may cancel talks with US”
This is supposed to prompt our strong leader President Trump into saying “please don’t cancel, please let’s try” and the reality is our president won’t beg for anything.
I think regardless of what happens our president will show up in Singapore as per schedule. If NOKO has any sense at all, they will show up as well or lose face altogether.
But again, that’s just my humble uneducated opinion.
#MAGA
I don’t think you’ve been following this very closely.
Kim already asked that the American troops be withdrawn from South Korea as a condition for the success of any talks. The president has already said no that will never happen.
So far Kim has given in to all the demands made by the president. President Trump has said from the very beginning that all sanctions against North Korea will remain in place until such time as the denuclearization has been completely verified by unrestricted inspection and that the nukes will be sent back to America.
From your post, unless I misunderstood it you seem to believe that North Korea has some cards to play this negotiation ocean. They have none.
Trump said no as a precondition. But I bet that if a deal is struck it will involve withdrawal of troops as a condition subsequent. That’s different.
If Kimmie boy cancels the talks, screw down the economic sanctions even harder.
He'll come crawling back, he won't have a choice.
Don't go wobbly now, Mr. President!!
Kabuki Theater.
Delaying it for a month would not be much of a concession. In fact it would ratchet up the pressure because if there is no deal then the exercises proceed.
Just a ? Did china and North Korea sandbagged our prez? What part did the Iranians and the globalist swamp played here? Something stinks to high heaven! The midget rocketman was much too eager from the get go to appease our president....setup? Something just doesn’t jive here!! Did our president just got played with the intention of humiliating him??
This sounds like the usual bluster that gets everyone in a tizzy. Kim can't get out of this without looking weak and upsetting China, and he can't afford that.
Don't think you understand Asian culture. Any delay would be a sign of weakness in both China's and the Nork's eyes.
The drills should proceed unabated. Show both China and the Nork's who's the boss here.
The Norks can’t be trusted - plain and simple.
Maybe. But if it looks like the meeting is not going to happen over this then I predict Trump pushes it.
Kim is working the Moon side of the deal. He is seeking to drive a wedge between Trump and SK. He may succeed, Trump is set for military drills and Kim has already agreed that delaying the drills is not an issue with the summit, but it could be an issue with a Moon - Kim meeting, and it may succeed. To me this is a small concession to allow NK to save some face. (His own people and ego are threatened by his willingness to give up his nukes.) But it is still by far the best outcome for his regime. (If he is smart enough to see this.)
As far as the US is concerned, if SK wants to delay drills for a month, we probably should let them. But all sanctions are still in force and Kim gains little from Trump with this maneuver.
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