The US has hardened its position on North Korea- the influence of John Bolton?

A top US diplomat just laid out the new approach to North Korea. It’s doomed.

Stephen Biegun told a Washington audience that “we are not going to do denuclearization incrementally.”Vox, By Alex Ward @AlexWardVox alex.ward@vox.com Mar 11, 2019, The top US diplomat tasked with negotiating with North Korea just laid out a denuclearization plan that’s destined to fail.

above – John Bolton

In his first public comments since President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met in Vietnam last month, Stephen Biegun, the US special representative for North Korea, told a Washington audience Monday that the administration wants Pyongyang to give up all of its weapons of mass destruction before anything else.

“We are not going to do denuclearization incrementally,” the envoy said at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s nuclear conference. “The foundation of US policy is denuclearization.”

But it’s not just nuclear weapons: The Trump administration also wants the complete removal of chemical and biological weapons from North Korea, Biegun said, meaning the US wants Pyongyang only to have conventional weapons by the end of the process.

Let’s be extremely clear about what this means: If the US maintains this position, any chance for the US to convince North Korea to part with its nuclear arsenal is gone.

Pyongyang for years has said that the only way it would consider giving up its nuclear weapons is through a step-by-step process where both sides offer reciprocal, commensurate concessions. By resolving smaller disagreements, like lifting sanctions in exchange for the closure of an important nuclear facility, over time the US and North Korea would eventually arrive at the grand prize: the end of Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

But Biegun said the US won’t do that. Instead, the Trump administration wants to see North Korea dismantle its nuclear arsenal before it offers any economic or diplomatic benefits. That’s just not going to work, experts say.

The US has hardened its position on North Korea………..

It’s unclear why the US position has changed so starkly. One of the main theories is that National Security Adviser John Bolton, a noted North Korea hardliner, has gained more power in the negotiation process. ……… the US now openly holds an “all or nothing” stance toward North Korea. And if that’s the case, the talks are doomed. https://www.vox.com/world/2019/3/11/18260024/north-korea-stephen-biegun-nuclear-trump-kim-bolton

March 12, 2019 - Posted by Christina MacPherson | North Korea, politics international, USA

1 Comment »

Another very stupid article. The American nuclear-imperialists, will never agree to peace with N Korea. In America there are only Right-wing republicans and right wing-neoconservative democrats, with any real power. The clintonite and Obamaite democrats, pretend to be more socially liberal. They are both, controlled Heavily by the Military industrial complex, which uses nuclear weapons to threaten the world.
The Nuclear-Imperial state will maintain North Korea as a scapegoat and, whipping boy as long as The US military imperial state exists to keep making nuclear weapons and selling armaments to the rest of the world.
Articles like this are a good example of the weakness of news aggregators with no commentary.
Most all professional journalism in the world conform to not-so-apparent, government and corporate narratives .
The journalists themselves have to conform to establishment narratives to get paid.
I have been watching the American nucleoape controlled-circus, on the Korean peninsula for 40 years. It is always the same.

Bolton is a particularly blackhearted-operative yet an Obama operative or Clinton operative or Jimmy Carter operative would do the same. Spare us the drama please.

Obama did nothing about global warming while in power by the way. He conformed absolutely to the wishes of his corporate masters

Comment by Doug | March 12, 2019 | Reply