Defense Secretary Mattis Says that USFK’s Status Will Not Be Negotiated with North Korea

GIKorea | June 3, 2018 | USFK | 1 Comment

Here is the latest on the future of USFK according to Defense Secretary Mattis:

U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis says the fate of U.S. Forces Korea is not an issue to discuss with North Korea.

Mattis, who is attending the Asia Security Summit in Singapore, said the issue is not on the table for the North Korea-U.S., nor should it be.

He also vowed efforts to achieve complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization(CVID) of the Korean Peninsula.

During a speech at the security summit on Saturday, he said the U.S. will support unrelenting diplomatic efforts for this aim.

South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo also spoke at the summit and said the South will not pursue North Korea’s collapse or Korean unification through absorption or any artificial means, and vowed to gradually ease inter-Korean military tensions. [KBS World News]

You can read more at the link.

Tags:James Mattis, USFK

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MTB Rider

5 years ago

Looks like a bit of a shakeup is taking place north of the border just before Trump and Kim have their big Singapore meeting:
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/north-korea-replaces-three-top-military-leaders-yonhap-news-agency-reports/

SEOUL — Three of North Korea’s top military officials have been replaced, a South Korean news agency reported Monday, marking an apparent shake-up in leader Kim Jong Un’s inner circle before next week’s planned summit with President Trump.

The report by the Yonhap news agency, citing an intelligence source, could not be independently verified. But, if confirmed, the move could suggest a far-reaching intervention by Kim to bring in younger military overseers to replace older ranks possibly at odds with his outreach to the United States and its ally South Korea.

The officials who reportedly were dropped are from some of the highest reaches of the North’s military structure, including Ri Myong Su, the chief of general staff for the Korean People’s Army. Ri was thought to be a confidant of Kim’s father, the late leader Kim Jong Il.

It looks like there is a shift towards younger leaders. The outgoing Ri Myong Su is 84, his replacement Ri Yong Gil is 63.

Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, said the reported new military leadership brings expertise in military-run economic affairs rather than combat strategies.

This could be a sign that the North Korean leader is “pursuing a new policy to become a developing country without nuclear weapons, rather than a poor country with nuclear weapons,” he said.

Yeah, I’m taking that one with a large grain of salt, thanks. It would be nice to see a real change, but as has been discussed here, so far it’s been all style, no substance…

~Scoops McGee

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