Trump blames Bolton for deadlock with North Korea U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as John Bolton, national security advisor, listens during his meeting with Klaus Iohannis, Romania's president, not pictured, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, Aug. 20, 2019. EPAU.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday blamed his former national security adviser, John Bolton, for the current deadlock in nuclear talks with North Korea.Trump's attack on Bolton comes as news media have reported unflattering revelations about the president using excerpts from the former adviser's yet unpublished memoir."When Wacko John Bolton went on Deface the Nation and so stupidly said that he looked at the 'Libyan Model' for North Korea, all hell broke out," Trump tweeted, referring to Bolton's April 2018 interview on the CBS show, "Face the Nation."The Libya model Bolton suggested centers on getting North Korea to first surrender its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and then receive concessions in return."Kim Jong Un, who we were getting along with very well, went 'ballistic,' just like his missiles ― and rightfully so," Trump said of thJun 19, 2020
In memoir, Bolton says nuclear diplomacy with North Korea was South Korea's 'creation' U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton speaks to media at the Palace of Independence in Minsk, Belaru, Aug. 29, 2019. EPAFormer U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton has written in his upcoming memoir that the 2018 diplomatic efforts to denuclearize North Korea were South Korea's "creation," more than a serious strategy on the part of Washington or Pyongyang, CNN reported Thursday.In his book, "The Room Where It Happened," which is due to be published next week, Bolton writes extensively about his disagreements with Trump before, during and after his first summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore in June 2018, according to the news channel."The whole diplomatic fandango was South Korea's creation," Bolton was quoted as writing, "relating more to its 'unification' agenda than serious strategy on Kim's part or ours."Bolton also claimed that Trump was "desperate to have the meeting at any price" and that Kim had him "hooked" at the Singapore summit. According to The New York Times, the former adviser also mocks a series of decisions by Trump. The decision tJun 19, 2020
North Korea continues to present 'extraordinary threat': Pentagon official In this file photo taken on Sept. 9, 2018, Korean People's Army soldiers march during a mass rally on Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang. North Korea's army is "fully ready" to take action against the South, state media said on June 16, 2020, in the latest verbal saber-rattling from Pyongyang, days after its leader's sister threatened military moves against Seoul. AFPNorth Korea's recent provocations against South Korea show that the communist country continues to present an "extraordinary" threat to the region, a senior Pentagon official said Thursday.Speaking in a teleconference, David Helvey, acting assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, said the United States remains in close coordination with South Korea to ensure readiness against North Korea's threats."As we've been starkly reminded in recent days, North Korea continues to present an extraordinary threat to the region and which demands our continued vigilance," he said."It's hard to tell what's going to unfold over the next few days and weeks," he added. "But I do think that it's important to say that wJun 19, 2020
Preparing items to send to North Korea Members of a North Korean defectors' group promoting human rights in North Korea, put rice in plastic bottles and prepare face masks at a park in the Gangnam District of Seoul, Thursday. They are preparing to send the bottles to North Korea from Seogmo Island off Incheon this Sunday. The group plans to push ahead with sending the goods despite a government warning that it will ban such activities amid increasing inter-Korean tension following Pyongyang protesting South Korean activists sending propaganda leaflets and other items over the border. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukJun 18, 2020
South Korea-US working group's role in question amid growing inter-Korean tensions A civic group stages a rally in front of Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday, calling for a breakup of the South Korea-U.S. working group. / YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooAmid deteriorating inter-Korean relations, a South Korea-U.S. working group is taking flak for hampering progress in bilateral ties due to its excessively harsh standards adopted on North Korea. Critics say unlike its initial goal of coordinating policy on the North, the group is obsessed with whether Seoul-driven initiatives to engage with Pyongyang violate economic sanctions on the reclusive state, with some even calling for its breakup.The working group, co-chaired by Lee Do-hoon, special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs and U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun, was set up in November 2018 following three inter-Korean summits earlier that year. Upon its establishment, the government had high hopes that it would be in close communication with the U.S. via the organization. But due to Washington's stern stance that inter-Korean economic cooperation should proceed in step with significant proJun 18, 2020By Kang Seung-woo
North Korean troops seen at empty border guard posts South Korean army soldiers patrol along a barbed-wire fence in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Wednesday, June 17, 2020. APNorth Korea appears to have dispatched soldiers to some empty guard posts inside the Demilitarized Zone, sources said Thursday, following its warnings that it would beef up its military presence in border areas.On Wednesday, the General Staff of the (North) Korean People's Army vowed to set up "civil police posts," which had been withdrawn from the DMZ under an inter-Korean military agreement, as part of next steps against South Korea after the demolition of the inter-Korean liaison office in the border town of Kaesong.According to the military sources, several soldiers were spotted being dispatched to empty sentry posts inside the buffer zone from late Wednesday. North Korea is believed to have around 150 such posts, and some of them were vacated in accordance with the inter-Korean tension-reducing pact signed in Sept. 19, 2018.It is not clear as of now if the move is to station more guard soldiers in border areas or if it is part of the milJun 18, 2020
US lawmaker calls for increasing military, sanctions pressure on North Korea Rep. Ted Yoho / APThe United States needs to increase military and sanctions pressure on North Korea in response to its destruction of an inter-Korean liaison office earlier this week, a U.S. lawmaker said Wednesday.Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation, said countries are "cheating" on the international sanctions regime against North Korea and mentioned China as a key player in the overall program."As far as the United States, I think the best thing that we can do is, we need to talk about upping the ante, maybe start military, or efforts and campaigns again with South Korea and start those up," Yoho said during a virtual seminar hosted by the Association of Former Members of Congress, apparently referring to joint military exercises that have been scaled back to facilitate nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang."In addition, I think we need to really get tough on these sanctions with the countries that are cheating," he said. "We know that roughly 90 percent of the trade that goes on with NorJun 18, 2020
Ex-US Forces Korea commander says he would increase military pressure on North Korea South Korean Army's K-55 self-propelled howitzers are seen at the border with North Korea, South Korea, Tuesday, June 16, 2020. APA former U.S. Forces Korea commander said Wednesday he would respond to North Korea's recent provocations with increased pressure, such as bringing strategic assets into the Korean Peninsula and conducting joint military exercises as planned.Ret. Gen. Vincent Brooks, who headed the 28,500-strong USFK from 2016 to 2018, said the North Koreans need to feel "agitated" about the consequences of their actions against South Korea, which in recent days have included the destruction of an inter-Korean liaison office and repeated threats to redeploy troops to border areas.Brooks noted, however, that increased military pressure on North Korea must go hand in hand with efforts to engage the regime."We would be seeking ways to increase pressure with the military instrument, while at the same time not foreclosing the necessary engagement that North Korea seems to have closed the door on, but really hasn't yet," he said during a virtual seminar hosted by the Center for Jun 18, 2020
US needs to hold military exercises ex-national security adviser Former U.S. national security adviser H.R. McMaster / ReutersThe United States should respond to North Korea's recent provocations by conducting joint military exercises with South Korea and resolving the issue of defense cost-sharing between the allies, a former U.S. national security adviser said Wednesday.H.R. McMaster, who served under President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2018, said he believes the North Koreans are reverting to a cycle of provocation and extortion of concessions because the regime is growing increasingly desperate under the economic tolls exacted by COVID-19 and the "maximum pressure" sanctions campaign.His comments come as tensions have heightened on the Korean Peninsula due to North Korea's near-daily threats to punish the South for its failure to stop defectors from flying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets into the North.This week, the North blew up an inter-Korean liaison office in its border city of Kaesong and threatened repeatedly to move troops back into disarmed zones."I think we have to demonstrate our ability to respond to this threat effectively miliJun 18, 2020
Trump extends existing sanctions on North Korea for one year U.S. President Donald Trump speaks about the PREVENTS "President's Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide," task force, in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, June 17, 2020, in Washington. APU.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday extended existing U.S. sanctions on North Korea for another year, citing the continued "unusual and extraordinary" threat posed by the regime.In a routine notice sent to Congress, Trump wrote that he is continuing the "national emergency with respect to North Korea" that was first declared on June 26, 2008, by Executive Order 13466.The executive order, which was further expanded under Trump and previous administrations, calls for sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs."The existence and risk of proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the Korean Peninsula and the actions and policies of the Government of North Korea continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States," Trump wrote in the notice, explainJun 18, 2020
