Tag: North Korea

North Korea has not taken steps to denuclearize, John Bolton says

The following article by Felicia Sonmez was posted on the Washington Post website August 7, 2018:

National security adviser Bolton briefs the media on election interference at the White House. Credit: Mark Wilson, Getty Images

National security adviser John Bolton said Tuesday that North Korea has not made progress toward denuclearization in a dismal acknowledgment that comes nearly two months after President Trump held a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

“The United States has lived up to the Singapore declaration. It’s just North Korea that has not taken the steps we feel are necessary to denuclearize,” Bolton said in an interview on Fox News Channel on Tuesday morning.

He added the United States will continue to apply pressure until Pyongyang produces results.

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U.S. spy agencies: North Korea is working on new missiles

The following article by Ellen Nakashima and Joby Warrick was posted on the Washington Post website July 30, 2018:

This commercial satellite image shows North Korea’s Sanumdong missile assembly facility south of Pyongyang on July 7. The red vehicle in the inner courtyard is similar to those used by North Korea to transport missiles. (Planet Labs Inc./James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies)

U.S. spy agencies are seeing signs that North Korea is constructing new missiles at a factory that produced the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States, according to officials familiar with the intelligence.

Newly obtained evidence, including satellite photos taken in recent weeks, indicates that work is underway on at least one and possibly two liquid-fueled ICBMs at a large research facility in Sanumdong, on the outskirts of Pyongyang, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe classified intelligence.

The findings are the latest to show ongoing activity inside North Korea’s nuclear and missile facilities at a time when the country’s leaders are engaged in arms talks with the United States. The new intelligence does not suggest an expansion of North Korea’s capabilities but shows that work on advanced weapons is continuing weeks after President Trump declared in a Twitter posting that Pyongyang was “no longer a Nuclear Threat.”

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Pompeo faces GOP grilling on Russia, North Korea

The following article by Alexander Bolton was posted on the Hill website July 24, 2018:

© Greg Nash

Republican and Democratic lawmakers concerned over the uncertainty swirling around President Trump’s foreign and trade policies will press Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for answers Wednesday, but there are doubts about how much he can answer.

Pompeo is scheduled to testify at 3 p.m. before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, an eagerly awaited appearance for lawmakers hungry to know more about Trump’s two-hour private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week in Helsinki.

There are also questions about the status of diplomatic talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and what the administration’s next moves are after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal in May.

Senators want Pompeo to explain Trump’s persistent criticism of European allies, something they fear has eroded trust within NATO.

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In private, Trump vents frustration over lack of progress on North Korea

The following article by John Hudson, Josh Dawsey and Carol D. Leonnig was posted on the Washington Post website July 22, 2018:

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed an agreement on June 12. But Trump’s claims about what has happened since then lack evidence. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

When he emerged from his summit with Kim Jong Un last month, President Trump tri­umphantly declared that North Korea no longer posed a nuclear threat and that one of the world’s most intractable geopolitical crises had been “largely solved.”

But in the days and weeks since then, U.S. negotiators have faced stiff resistance from a North Korean team practiced in the art of delay and obfuscation.

Diplomats say the North Koreans have canceled follow-up meetings, demanded more money and failed to maintain basic communications, even as the once-isolated regime’s engagements with China and South Korea flourish.

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North Korea exposes Trump lie by ditching meeting on war hero remains

The following article by Tommy Christopher was posted on the ShareBlue.com website July 12, 2018:

Credit: Markus Schreiber, AP Photos

The Kim regime just showed how much Trump’s central boast about his North Korea ‘deal’ is a lie.

Since his embarrassing summit with Kim Jong Un, Trump has been going around bragging that North Korea has “already” returned the remains of Korean War casualties.

But North Korea exposed that lie by skipping a meeting meant to begin that process.

According to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, North Korean officials failed to show up for a meeting with American officials on Thursday.

View the original article on the ShareBlue.com website here.

North Korea calls U.S. attitude toward talks ‘gangster-like’ and ‘cancerous,’ rejecting Pompeo’s assessment

The following article by John Hudson and Carol Morello was posted on the Washington Post website July 7, 2018:

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met North Korean officials in Pyongyang on July 6, hoping to “fill in” details on denuclearization. (Reuters)

TOKYO — In a sharp signal that denuclearization negotiations with North Korea will be drawn out and difficult, Pyongyang on Saturday lambasted the U.S. stance as regrettable, gangster-like and cancerous, directly contradicting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s rosy assessment that his two days of talks had been “productive.”

A harsh statement from an unnamed spokesman for the Foreign Ministry was carried on the state-run Korea Central News Agency just hours after Pompeo left Pyongyang on Saturday and told reporters that significant progress had been made “in every element” of what he characterized as “good-faith negotiations.” Pyongyang crushed that appraisal, saying the United States had betrayed the spirit of the June 12 Singapore summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“The U.S. side came up only with its unilateral and gangster-like demand for denuclearization,” the statement said.

View the complete article on the Washington Post website here.

President Trump’s exaggerated claims about the North Korea deal

The following article by Meg Kelly was posted on the Washington Post website July 2, 2018:

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed an agreement on June 12. But Trump’s claims about what has happened since then lack evidence. (Meg kelly/The Washington Post)

President Trump says the North Korean nuclear threat has dissipated since he signed a brief and vague joint statement with the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, on June 12.

This claim overnight became a key part of Trump’s repertoire. The president has been making assurances about North Korea in virtually all of his public remarks. On June 15, he went so far as to say he had “solved” the problem.

But experts say Trump is getting ahead of himself and is exaggerating or flubbing sensitive details. The agreement with Kim is light on specifics, and much is riding on international negotiations now taking place. The threat, for now, is still looming.

View the complete article on the Washington Post website here.

North Korea working to conceal key aspects of its nuclear program, U.S. officials say

The following article by Ellen Nakashima and Joby Warrick was posted on the Washington Post website June 30, 2018:

Credit: Evan Vucci, AP

U.S. intelligence officials, citing newly obtained evidence, have concluded that North Korea does not intend to fully surrender its nuclear stockpile, and instead is considering ways to conceal the number of weapons it has and secret production facilities, according to U.S. officials.

The evidence, collected in the wake of the June 12 summit in Singapore, points to preparations to deceive the United States about the number of nuclear warheads in North Korea’s arsenal as well as the existence of undisclosed facilities used to make fissile material for nuclear bombs, the officials said.

The findings support a new, previously undisclosed Defense Intelligence Agency estimate that North Korea is unlikely to denuclearize.

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Satellite images raise alarms about North Korean nukes

The following article by Ellen Mitchell was posted on the Hill website June 30, 2018:

Satellite images showing North Korea making substantial improvements to one of its nuclear research facilities are raising alarms that the government has little interest in actually giving up its nuclear arsenal.

Just two weeks after President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a deal committing the U.S. to security guarantees in exchange for North Korea denuclearizing, satellite images show the country making “rapid” improvements to its Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center, according to 38 North, which monitors the country.

NBC News also reported on Friday that U.S. intelligence agencies believe North Korea has increased its fuel production for nuclear missiles at several secret research sites, adding officials fear Kim may try to keep the sites hidden amid negotiations with the U.S.

View the complete article on the Hill website.

Trump admits he was dead wrong about North Korea

The following article by Oliver Willis was posted on the ShareBlue website June 22, 2018:

Trump said North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat. Now he’s telling Congress the complete opposite.

Credit: AP Photo,Evan Vucci

In an official notice to Congress, Trump revealed that his public rhetoric on the summit with North Korea was a complete lie and that the rogue nation remains a threat to the world.

As part of his administration’s public relations campaign after the meeting, in which he saluted a North Korean general and capitulatedto their demands, Trump claimed, “There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.”

But nine days after his celebratory tweet, Trump admitted the reality of the situation in a notice to Congress. Continue reading “Trump admits he was dead wrong about North Korea”