North Korea
Trump says he hopes to meet Kim Jong-un and raises prospect of US taking over some South Korean land
South Korean president Lee Jae Myung uses Oval Office meeting to encourage Trump to engage with North Korean leader
Donald Trump has said he wants to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, possibly this year, in an attempt to revive the failed nuclear diplomacy of his first term as US president.
“I’d like to have a meeting. I look forward to meeting with Kim Jong-un in the appropriate future,” Trump said during an occasionally awkward meeting at the Oval Office with South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae Myung, in which he raised the prospect of taking ownership of South Korean land that hosts a US military base.
Trump, who met Kim three times in his first term, hailed his relationship with the totalitarian leader and said he knew him “better than anybody, almost, other than his sister” – a reference to Kim’s younger sibling and confidante Kim Yo-jong. “Someday I’ll see him. I look forward to seeing him. He was very good with me,” Trump told reporters, saying he hoped the talks would take place this year.
Lee said the US president, who has attempted to bring peace – so far unsuccessfully – to longstanding disputes in Ukraine and the Middle East, was the “only person” who could end the decades-old standoff between South and North Korea, whose three-year war in the early 1950s ended in a truce but not a peace treaty.
“I look forward to your meeting with Chairman Kim Jong-un and construction of Trump Tower in North Korea and playing golf,” Lee said. Lire la suite »
North Korea reveals uranium site as Kim Jong Un demands more nuclear weapons
North Korea reveals uranium site as Kim Jong Un demands more nuclear weapons
The North Korean leader called for stronger efforts to “exponentially increase” the number of nuclear weapons in the country.
Northeast Asia sees more consensus
An article published in Financial Times Chinese on July 29 said that US, Japan and South Korea are acting increasingly independently, while a trend of joint action is being frequently observed among China, Russia and North Korea. Thus, a conclusion is made in the article – balance of power in Northeast Asia is being reorganized.
Japan-South Korea disputes have not impacted the essence of the US-Japan-South Korea alliance. Japan-South Korea trade conflicts might somewhat influence the three countries’ cooperation, but their military alliance is still stable. Yet the US-Japan-South Korea alliance needs to be reshaped and transformed under new geopolitical and international conditions.
(…)
As long as the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is not realized, South Korea will remain dependent on the US in security and geopolitics. The General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), a military intelligence-sharing pact between Japan and South Korea, is supposed to be renewed on August 24. This will be an important juncture. If any change occurs to the agreement, there might be a crack in the US-Japan-South Korea military alliance, even though it will not completely collapse.
TANIKO Madagascar 