President Donald Trump spoke on Tuesday, regarding unprecedented talks between North Korea and the United States:
“We have had direct talks at very high levels, extremely high levels with North Korea,” The Washington Post quoted Trump as saying, during a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Abe.
Hours later, major news broke that CIA Director Mike Pompeo had met with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un over Easter weekend. According to Fox News:
CIA Director Mike Pompeo met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un over Easter weekend in an effort to lay the groundwork for a summit between Kim and President Trump, Fox News has confirmed…
Trump, who welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to his Florida resort Tuesday, said five locations for the potential summit are under consideration. The president would not disclose the sites but said the U.S. was not among them.
“We’ll either have a very good meeting or we won’t have a good meeting,” Trump told reporters. “And maybe we won’t even have a meeting at all, depending on what’s going in. But I think that there’s a great chance to solve a world problem.”
The White House reportedly declined to confirm or deny the CIA Director’s visit.
It appears that the story was first broken by the Washington Post, who was also given the credit for the initial report by Fox News. Since then, the story has gained major traction, picked up by the BBC and Sputnik International.
This is obviously a major development, with the BBC claiming that this would constitute the first meeting of it’s kind since 2000 – when then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met Kim Jong-il, the current leader’s father.
If this is true, then Donald Trump, despite his flamboyant rhetoric, has possibly done more to facilitate US-North Korean dialog, then the last two US Presidents. This is an observation shared by Trump himself, who has taken personal credit for apparently improved relations – not only between the US and North Korea – but also between North and South Korea.
In a BBC video, Trump stated that “North Korea is coming along” and that they [The North] also had plans to meet with South Korea. He also apparently took credit for the success of the Winter Olympics in South Korea, in which the North and South marched under a common flag, in an unprecedented move. Trump boldly stated:
…without us, and without me in particular, I guess you would have to say that they would not be discussing anything, including the Olympics would be a faliure, instead it was a great sucsess…they do have my blessing to discuss an end to the war.
Trump emphasized that the War between North and South Korea has still technically not ended, as a peace treaty has never been signed; the two states are essentially adversaries, operating under a cease-fire. Based on his statements that the North and South “have his blessing”, to discuss an end to the war, one can infer that Trump believes both the United States, and he personally, will have a major role in these discussions.
Trump has apparently made incredible progress with North Korea – if you ignore his polemics and focus on results made during his presidency. Despite being seen as not very diplomatic by the Deep State, it is quite interesting the apparent progress Trump has made. On the other hand, one can argue his fiery words and threats unwittingly forced the Koreas to talk to each other – in other words, for fear of his unpredictability and threats, they took negotiations into their own hands. This is the man who fell for an obvious false flag – twice – and subsequently bombed innocent Syria – twice.
One must also not assume that the United States has such an indispensable role in all of this. The cause for recent progress may just have well have been motivated by internal Korean issues.
It is also quite interesting, that this first major meeting between US officials and North Koreans was conducted by the current CIA director. As noted, the last high-level meeting between the two states was conducted in 2000, by Secretary of State Albright. Generally speaking, in US politics, such high-level diplomatic meetings traditionally fall upon the Secretary of State.
One must remember, however, that the current Secretary of State, John J. Sullivan is only acting Secretary, since Trump dismissed Tillerson in March. Trump has indeed chosen Pompeo to be the next Secretary of State, so it logically follows that Pompeo was chosen to meet Kim Jong Un, in anticipation of him becoming Secretary.
Some may, therefore, interpret this as another example of Trump favoring Generals – or in this case CIA Directors, and giving them control over traditionally civilian roles and postings.
In any event, it is not worth speculating for too long as to why Pompeo was chosen, or what was discussed.
All that is certain is that the meeting constitutes a major event, at a time when the world is increasingly chaotic and unstable. One can only hope that positive progress was made.
We at The Duran will keep you informed of any updates.
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