US-North Korea tensions approach boiling point

Source: The Hill | March 10, 2019 | Ellen Mitchell

The Trump administration — which canceled two large-scale spring war games between the United States and South Korea in an effort to move along nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea — is now grappling with reports that Pyongyang is preparing to launch a missile soon.

The reports follow President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s failure to reach an agreement at their summit last month. North Korea’s account for the failure differs from Trump’s, a fact that has increased tensions between the countries.

Experts warn that tensions could rise before negotiations move forward.

“I worry a little bit that this could get worse before it gets better because both sides want to try to figure out how to get the other side back to the table,” said Victor Cha, a former official in charge of Korea relations in the George W. Bush administration. “And they may say pressure is the way to do that.”

National security adviser John Bolton on Sunday said Trump would be “pretty disappointed” should North Korea carry out a nuclear test or a missile launch.

Bolton had been asked about new commercial satellite images taken Friday that show activity at a North Korean missile site near the border with China. Beyond Parallel, a project started by the Center for Strategic and International Security (CSIS), said North Korea “has continued preparations on the launch pad” at the Sohae launch facility, a sign the country is readying for “the delivery of a rocket.”

The long-range rocket launch site was previously shut down as part of a promise made between Kim and Trump at their first summit in June in Singapore.

Experts view the rebuilding as “deliberate efforts by North Korea in response to the inconclusive results of the Hanoi summit — to send a message, really, to President Trump and the world,” according to Cha.

Cha, now with CSIS, warned Thursday that tensions could continue to rise between Washington and Pyongyang before things cool down.

North Korea’s biggest ask in negotiations — the lifting of major sanctions imposed by U.N. Security Council resolutions — has shown “that they see that pressure as troublesome,” he said.

“One of the lessons, I think, that both sides took away from the summit is that pressure works. … And then you see, in terms of our imagery, that the North Korean response is to go back to some of these sites that they know bother us, whether it’s the nuclear test site or the Sohae satellites — launch site — and say, ‘Look, we’re going to start doing some stuff here too.'”

The launch facility developments are troubling for the administration, which had nixed military exercises on the Korean Peninsula in favor of several smaller-scale drills meant to maintain readiness but still appease Kim’s government.

The United States earlier this month canceled the larger drills, known as Key Resolve and Foal Eagle, in favor of the smaller Dong Maeng, which runs from March 4 to March 12.

Trump earlier this month wrote on Twitter that he canceled the bigger exercises “to save hundreds of millions of dollars for the U.S. for which we are not reimbursed.”

But North Korea on Thursday appeared to reject the major compromise Trump made following the summit in Hanoi, blasting the scaled-back exercises as a “violent violation,” and a “frontal challenge to the aim and desires of all [Korean] people and the international community for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.”

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  • Consistent #28313

    EVERYDAY #28316

    I guess Trump’s “negotiations” with Kim weren’t that successful after all. Did he or anyone else really think Kim would keep his word (assuming he did have a word to keep) about not resuming NK’s nuclear program?

    When it comes to foreign policy and negotiating with word leaders, Trump is way out of his league. Not that anyone else could broker a deal with Kim or any other tyrant and expect the opponent to abide by the agreement. In this case, we don’t even know if Kim actually did promise to halt his nuclear weapons program.

    Trump is a dismal failure.

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