Trump’s mate Kim’s friends. (ODT)
Crew members of the Pong Su would have faced severe punishment back in North Korea
Category: Nth Korea
Who is the tactician? Who is the Liar? Who acts on impulse? (ODT)
Out of 11 United Nations sanctions, North Korea had sought the lifting of five sanctions made in 2016-2017.
By contrast, Trump had told reporters at a press conference earlier in Hanoi that a working lunch and signing ceremony had been cancelled because North Korea wanted sanctions lifted in their entirety.The Korea Centre said the sanctions North Korea had asked to be lifted cover the ban on North Korean exports such as coal, textiles and seafood, which were important sources of foreign currency for the regime.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said: “We asked him to do more and he was just unprepared to do that.”
Donald Trump has declared that North Korea still poses an “extraordinary threat” to the United States, just days after saying that the country’s nuclear program no longer constituted a danger.
In an executive order on Friday, the president extended for one year the so-called “national emergency” with respect to the nuclear-armed nation, re-authorizing economic restrictions against it.
While expected, the declaration comes just nine days after Trump tweeted: “There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea,” following his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore.
The young ruler took a radically different path to his father, one that earned him the opportunity to outsmart Donald Trump
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US president Donald Trump shake hands at the conclusion of their meeting in Singapore.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US president Donald Trump shake hands at the conclusion of their meeting in Singapore. Photograph: Susan Walsh/APKim Jong-un was never destined to rule North Korea. It was never preordained he would be the one to accelerate the isolated nation’s nuclear weapons program, and force the US president, Donald Trump, to sit down for a meeting of equals.
Donald Trump shrugs off Kim’s human rights record: ‘He’s a tough guy’
Read moreBut through a combination of ruthless ambition and luck, Kim achieved what no other leader of North Korea has, recognition as the head of a nuclear power and international statesman. The boy dictator went head-to-head with Trump and won.
via Kim Jong-un: The story of the boy dictator who bested the US president | World news | The Guardian
It’s a slightly mad thing to think, but as a local journalist said to me: “It takes a mad man to do what Trump has done.” This attempt to build a new, permanent relationship with North Korea, based largely on the word of a dictator, is an unorthodox gamble, but it might pay off. It exploits well the needs and vanities of its main players.
It’s important to remember that North Korea has only come to the table because it has decided it is ready and willing. Its nuclear programme has reached a point where it feels secure enough to play it as a bargaining chip, and so it was Kim Jong-un – desperate for investment in his isolated kingdom – who invited Mr Trump to meet, not the other way around. Mr Trump’s radical move was to accept.
The joint declaration by Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in, the fruit of Friday’s unexpectedly warm, fraternal summit, represents a big political and diplomatic triumph for both Korean leaders. It will gratify China’s government too, and relieve people around the world worried about nuclear war. But it could be a big problem for Donald Trump.
via Bonhomie on Korean peninsula puts pressure on bellicose Trump | World news | The Guardian
If the US and other intelligence agencies are correct, North Korea has devised a missile that can strike anywhere in the US mainland
Source: ‘Fire and fury’: Americans not confident Donald Trump can handle North Korea
North Korean state media warned on Tuesday of a nuclear attack on the United States.
Source: North Korea warns of nuclear strike if provoked by US
North Korea’s ambassador in Kuala Lumpur has denounced Malaysia’s investigation into the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korea’s leader, and insisted the man poisoned at Kuala Lumpur airport last week was not him.
Source: North Korea’s ambassador in Kuala Lumpur insists dead man was not Kim Jong-nam
Yeonmi Park, 22, is in the rare position of being able to contrast Western societies with the secretive, authoritarian state of North Korea. Park, who grew up in the North Korean city of Hyesan, told Business Insider that her childhood was dominated by hunger pangs — especially when she was 9 and her father was imprisoned after being accused of trading goods on the black market.
North Korea sentenced a US college student to 15 years hard labour for what it called crimes against the country, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.
Source: American student Otto Warmbier sentenced to 15 years hard labour in North Korea
Hyeonseo Lee left North Korea when she was just 17 years old, crossing a river into China and never returning.
Source: North Korean defector reflects – The World – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
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