nsnbc : North Korea’s Head of State Kim Jong-un has invited U.S. President Donald Trump for talks and Trump has agreed to meet Kim by May, said South Korea’s National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong at the White House Thursday after delivering Kim’s invitation to Trump. Chung also said Kim had committed to stopping nuclear missile testing even during the upcoming joint U.S. – South Korean military drills next month, he told reporters. The situation brings back to mind the 1994 – 98 period of cooperation between the U.S.A. and Pyongyang Washington’s failure to deliver on its promises to a very cooperative Pyongyang.
Kim Jong-un expressed his eagerness to meet President Trump as soon as possible, Chung said, adding that “President Trump said he would meet Kim by May”. Chung didn’t provide any information on where the meeting would be.
The Blue House or the Presidency of the Republic of Korea ROK (a.k.a. South Korea) also reported that the meeting would occur by the end of May. Likewise, the White House or the Presidency of the USA confirmed Trump had accepted Kim’s invitation. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement
“President Trump greatly appreciates the nice words of the South Korean delegation and President Moon. He will accept the invitation to meet with Kim Jong-Un at a place and time to be determined. … We look forward to the denuclearization of North Korea. In the meantime, all sanctions and maximum pressure must remain.”
During recent meetings in Pyongyang, Kim and his senior cadres expressed willingness to hold talks with the U.S. and was prepared to discuss denuclearization and normalizing relations, said Chung. During the meetings, Kim “made it clear” that it would not resume provocations while engaged in those talks, Chung said Tuesday upon returning to Seoul.
Speaking at the White House Thursday night, Chung credited Trump for bringing the North Korean leader to the table, continuing Seoul’s deliberate efforts to flatter the American president. “I explained to President Trump that his leadership and his maximum pressure policy, together with international solidarity, brought us to this juncture,” Chung said.
The invitation was the result of Kim’s “broad minded and resolute decision” to contribute to the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula, said North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York, who is responsible for handling communications with the U.S.A..
A policy of de-escalation between the USA and the DPRK is not unprecedented. In fact Pyongyang’s hard line approach on the development of nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons came only after the breakdown of the previous rapprochement in the 1990s. In 1994, the administration of President Bill Clinton and North Korea signed an “Agreed Framework” that froze Pyongyang’s nuclear programme and aimed to normalise US-North Korean relations. The rapprochement, however, reached a dead end in 2002 when President George W. Bush launched his “you are either with us or you are with the enemy” policy.
Under the terms of the 1994 framework, Pyongyang agreed to freeze and ultimately dismantle its nuclear programme in exchange for “the full normalization of political and economic relations with the United States”. This mean that by 2003, a US-led consortium would build two light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea to compensate for the loss of nuclear power; Until then, the US would supply the north with 500,000 tons per year of heavy fuel; The US would lift sanctions, remove North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, and normalise the political relationship, which is still subject to the terms of the 1953 Korean War armistice; And finally, both sides would provide “formal assurances” against the threat or use of nuclear weapons.
However, in 1998, US officials involved in the implementation of the agreement testified to Congress that both the US and the International Atomic Energy Agency were satisfied that there had been “no fundamental violation of any aspect of the Framework Agreement” by North Korea. However, back-paddling on its own pledges when the U.S. observed a surprisingly compliant and cooperative North Korea, Washington failed to follow through on all of the above points.
CH/L – nsnbc 09.03.2018
Source Article from https://nsnbc.me/2018/03/09/88006/
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