S Korea’s Moon says sanctions stay, too early to be optimistic

At Tuesday’s State Department briefing, reporters pointed out that the most obvious person to lead a US team to prepare for possible direct talks with Pyongyang would have been recent retiree Joseph Yun, the veteran USA diplomat in charge of North Korea policy.

Kim Jong Un reportedly has an “unconventional” proposal to deliver to the USA through South Korean intermediaries headed to the states to pitch nuclear talks.

“Maybe this is a breakthrough”. Chung said he had a verbal message from Kim Jong-un that he will relay to U.S. officials but it was unclear whether he would meet Trump.

During their meeting with Kim Jong Un this week, South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s special envoys persuaded the North Korean leader to suspend and gradually discard its missile program, as well as release three USA citizens detained in the country, the paper said, citing multiple South Korean government sources.

The U.S State Department has not yet made any official statements regarding South Korea’s announcement, though President Trump did take to Twitter to weigh in. With a blockade of North Korea, possibly followed by “Phase 2”, the Trump administration runs the risk of a much worse catastrophe.

“This public display of contempt for universal norms against chemical weapons use further demonstrates the reckless nature of North Korea and underscores that we can not afford to tolerate a North Korean WMD program of any kind”, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.

“She is the most powerful weapon of North Korea now”, the source told the Post. “We’re in a situation where it is hard for such things to happen”.

What it means by security guarantees and the elimination of military threats against it – which it says it needs to consider giving up nuclear weapons – will be crucial. That suggests the possibility Kim will insist in any deal that the USA withdraw its almost 28,000 troops from South Korea. The North sees the allies’ drills as an invasion rehearsal. Those discussions would be conducted in private among US officials, the source said.

Last month, North Korea accused Malaysian investigators of trying to “frame” Pyongyang for the assassination, saying that Malaysia was acting under the influence of South Korea.

Soon after taking power after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, in 2011, Mr Kim escalated his country’s standoff with the outside world by accelerating nuclear and missile tests. But there has been speculation that the drills could be downsized – which would mean fewer US strategic assets – or that they could be shortened to help continue the thaw in relations with Pyongyang. The North also expressed its willingness to hold a heartfelt dialogue with the United States on the issues of denuclearization and normalizing relations with the United States.

“We have plenty of people who are more than qualified to have these types of conversations with the White House and also the Republic of Korea, our ally”, she said.

Trump has ridiculed Kim by calling him “Little Rocket Man”, warned that his “nuclear button is bigger” and announced that the dictator’s beliigerance “will be met with fire and fury the likes of which the world has never seen”.

US Secretary of Defense Mattis has said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the offer of talks from North Korea. In both 1994 and 2005 Pyongyang said it would give up its nuclear arsenal, only to go back on its promise each time.

Chung said the two Koreas would hold a summit at a South Korea-controlled facility.

It comes after the USA concluded the secretive state murdered Kim Jong Un’s half brother Kim Jong Nam, with the nerve agent VX.