Discussion: North Korea Says It Will Suspend Nuclear Missile Tests

Why waste the money, he’s got the nuke thing done and missiles ready to go.
I still believe kim is just sucking trump in and his ultimate goal is to own the whole korean peninsula in some shape or form.
Trump thinks he is going to be a winner no matter how this works out and I am curious as to how much it is going cost our country in treasure and death.
Time will tell.

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E

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Aw, damn. We can’t take this dude seriously. Look, he’s not wearing a dark suit. What is that, tan, ecru, taupe? This guy just isn’t serious.

On a serious note.

He said North Korea has reached the level where it no longer needs underground testing or test-launching of ICBMs, and added that it would close its nuclear testing facility at Punggye-ri, which was already believed to have been rendered unusable due to tunnel collapses after the North’s test of its most powerful bomb to date last year.

Kim might be stalling for time to repair or replace damaged facilities.

Abe is keeping his eyes wise open in a trust but verify sort of way.

And Mr. Kim’s not making any commitments direct or implied to denuclearize.

…it still leaves a lot of wiggle room for circumventing the pledges in the future, and nothing in there is irreversible. And nothing in there mentions denuclearization, of any variety.”

And here it comes. Did anyone think this wouldn’t be part of any deal?

North Korea for decades has been pushing a concept of “denuclearization” that bears no resemblance to the American definition, vowing to pursue nuclear development unless Washington removes its troops from the peninsula.

Tell you one thing. Mike fucking Pompeo just ain’t up to this.

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Way way over his head.
In fact I can’t come up with a name in this administration that would give me any hope.

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North Korea is a nation of starving people led by the only fat person in the country. Donald (The John) Trump finds the concept to be simply irresistible.

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I have absolutely no expertise in this arena but can’t help suspecting that, along with the points in the article, the N. Koreans want to avoid giving Trump excuses to start a war, something Kim would probably do in a hot second if positions were reversed. Tyrants know how other tyrants think even if, or perhaps especially if, they’re wannabees.

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Wow, I am so glad that we have a top-notch well-staffed diplomatic corps with a high levels of expertise and morale to take on this tricky and monumental task. My guess is Mr. FlatTop sees that the State Department is weaker than it has been in the last two centuries and that he will be able to easily pull one over on Spanky. I wonder if Spanky will have some nice NK girls visit his room so that NK can get Un up on him (sorry – not really).

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Pyongyang residents, who have been largely kept in the dark about Kim’s plans to meet Trump…

Let’s not dwell on their poor economy and living conditions.

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The shuttering of the test site, Mount Mantap at Punggye-ri, is no concession at all. After their last test, a successful high-yield test of a thermonuclear warhead, it became so severely fractured that that it cannot be used again.

Serious settling and land slides were noted after the September test, but North Korea tried to dig another tunnel in it anyway in October and it collapsed with perhaps 200 killed.

But after that last warhead test, since it was successful, it is not clear that he needs to ever test a nuclear device again.

So the only permanent change in his WMD program that Jong Un announced is one forced on him by the facts.

It is also essential to understand that “denuclearization” to Jong Un means the removal of all U.S. conventional forces and presence from South Korea (as the U.S. is a nuclear power).

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This fact really shouldn’t be left to the comments only, but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that the AP wouldn’t include it in there story.

North Korea Says It Will Suspend Nuclear Missile Tests

And The Dumpster has fallen for this hook-line-sinker… It is well known the NK has money issues, this is a way to save money and get The Dumpster to buy in… So smart, a genius… yek RIGHTTTT.

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Yeah, this isn’t exactly a team that fills me with hope for the outcome. Looking forward to Trump’s discovery that his idea of “denuclearization” isn’t remotely on Kim’s agenda – and to his reaction when he’s asked why anyone should trust the US to keep to a deal if he pulls out of the Iran agreement (not to mention given his entire scammy business history, but that’s for another thread).

On the other hand, giving Trump a historic achievement that boosts his popularity would make it more likely we’d be stuck with him for so long that we’d never be able to recover, which would be a massive win for certain unnamed rival powers who might have leverage/goodies wrt Kim. Talk about good news/bad news…

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Nah, it’s not about that. It’s far simpler than that:

Kim wants respect. He wants to be seen as equal to POTUS on the world stage. And now POTUS is coming to him. He’s making the American President come to him. I don’t care how good the Secret Service team is, or how on-alert JSOC assets in SK are, that puts us in a vulnerable position, with Trump literally at Kim’s mercy.

Trump is handing him not ‘a’ win he’s been after, but the win he’s been after. After all, this isn’t the President of the Unites States coming on a state visit to Asia where he’s meeting with all of these different countries. This is the President coming to North Korea to basically beg for something.

And that’s exactly how it’ll spin throughout Asia: Kim Forces US President to Grovel. No matter that Japan knows who’d win in a war. No matter that SK and China know. That’s the optics, and that’s how it plays.

So, Kim saying ‘hey, I’ve got working nuclear missiles, I don’t need to test them anymore’? Welp. He’s got working nuclear missiles. ‘Hey, I’m closing down this facility that’s so busted up from the last test, we can’t use it anyway’? Yeaaaah, that’s a great achievement for… I dunno, people who hate site rennovation?

This isn’t about avoiding a war Kim can’t win. This is about looking out around Asia and making sure they all know he already won.

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