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Another Trump-Kim Summit?
By maudeaster on 2019-01-18 09:19:31
Another US-North Korea summit seems in the works. President Trump
reportedly sent a personal letter to North Korean President Kim Jong-un last weekend, and the lead North Korean negotiator,
Kim Yong-Chol is expected in Washington today for meetings with US Secretary of State Pompeo. [caption
id="attachment_ 12052" align="alignnone" width="600"]
US Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo and Kim Yong Chol , a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, from a photo taken
in July 2018 in Pyongyang, Now meeting in Washington D.C. Photo by Andrew Harnik, AFP, Getty Images.[/caption] I am
overwhelmed daily by actions of the Trump administration I find appalling, from immigration to women’s rights, from
criminal justice to the environment, so it’s a change to support a Trump initiative, but where there is a possibility of finally
ending the destructive and dangerous hostility between the US and North Korea, I believe this is something we all need to
encourage strongly. What I worry about is that anti-Trump Democrats in Congress may
reflexively oppose another summit without considering how desperately Koreans, both North and South, want an end to
living under the threat of potential military action, conventional or nuclear, initiated by either Pyongyang or Washington. In
the Capital District we need to urge the Democrats who represent us in Congress --Schumer, Gillibrand, Tonko and
Delgado - to put reducing military tensions on the Korean peninsula ahead of any reflexive hostility to Trump. One
problem with the first US — North Korea summit in Singapore was that, lacking advance diplomatic planning, only broad
commitments were made:
1. "The United States and the DPRK commit to establish new U.S—DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the
peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.
2. The United States and the DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean
Peninsula.
3. Reaffirming the April 27, 2018 Panmunjom Declaration, the DPRK commits to work toward complete
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
4. The United States and the DPRK commit to recovering POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of
those already identified."
Another problem, which has continued to stymy progress, is that
focused entirely on the 3rd agreement and been unwilling to move forward on the first and second, which logically require
establishing a policy of non-aggression toward North Korea and normal diplomatic relations. Since the initial summit, North
Korea has discontinued nuclear and missile tests, dismantled missile test facilities and returned remains of US soldiers, but
the only US steps have been to postpone or modify some war games on the
Korean peninsula. The US position has been to demand complete de-nuclearization by North Korea before signing a peace
treaty to finally, formally end the Korea War — which North Korea quite understandably sees as a critical assurance of non-
aggression. South Korea, China and Russia — North Korea’s neighbors — all see a peace treaty as a critical initial step. They
all also all call for a step-by-step process in which both North Korea and US would see gains for each action they take to
lower military tensions on the peninsula. The US has also refused to consider even partially reducing sanctions on North
Korea. In fact, sanctions relief is well suited to a step-by-step process, and clearly the US gains an important bargaining chip
if Trump ends his insistence on maintaining all sanctions until Pyongyang completely de-nuclearizes. Reduction of US and
UN sanctions is something North Korea would find very valuable, especially with its new national commitment to prioritize
economic over military development. It is an encouraging sign that North Korean and American negotiators have been
meeting repeatedly recently in Vietnam, and that Pompeo has committed to high level discussions in DC. Hopefully,
adequate prior diplomacy will result in a much more specific summit agreement, which hopefully Trump will actually
implement. As the damaging secrecy of Trump-Putin meetings has made clear, to make sure promises made are promises
kept, other US policy makers also will need full information on all Trump-Kim discussions. At last weekend’s Women’s
Empowerment Conference, Christine hn, International Coordinator of Women Cross
DMZ, described a meeting last December in Beijing of women from South Korea, North Korea, China, Japan, Russia,
Canada and the US. The women made a joint appeal for North Korea, South Korea, China and the US “to declare an end to
the Korean War and establish a process to negotiate a peace treaty to replace the 1953 armistice agreement." They also urged
the United States and North Korea to normalize relations in order to provide the security assurance needed for complete
denuclearization. And they demanded that "future peace processes include substantial representation of women’s civil
society organizations as mandated under UNSCR 1325.” To support this call for action, many women at Albany’s Women’s
Empowerment Conference signed letters which will be delivered to every woman in New York’s Congressional delegation
asking them “to be champions for a Korea Peace Treaty to end the longest standing American conflict”. Women Against
War is excited to be working with Women Cross DMZ on this peace treaty campaign. To learn more about the latest US-
North Korea developments, as well as the exciting progress being made by North and South Korea [caption
id="attachment_ 12048" align="alignnone" width="300"] South Korean
farmers send tractors to North Korea[/caption] building what they are calling “a peace regime” on the peninsula, subscribe
to an excellent, free weekly email resource Zoom In Korea’s Weekly Korea News Roundup. [caption
id= "attachment. 12045" 5" align="ali gnright" width="600"]
22 November 2018 - DMZ,
South Korea : (In this handout photo provided by South Korean Defense Ministry), South Korean soldier (R), shakes hands
with a North Korean soldier (L), during a operation to construct a tactical road to support a joint war remains recovery
project at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in DMZ, South Korea on November 22, 2018. The two Koreas connected the 3
km-long road at Arrowhead Ridge, a site of fierce battles in the 1950-53 Korean War. (Photo by South Korean Defense
Ministry/Sipa USA).[/caption] .
