Category: International Headlines

It looks like another Trump-Kim summit may happen next month:

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that he may meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his upcoming trip to Asia, raising the possibility of renewed summit diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang.

Asked by a reporter at the White House on whether he plans to meet Kim during the trip, Trump replied, “I may,” adding, “That’ll be exciting, won’t it? But I get along with him.”

Trump plans to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China, scheduled for November 18-19 in Shenzhen.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It looks like President Trump is still friendly with Kim Jong-un. I guess we will see if this friendliness turns into any long term agreement in the future:

U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday he “gets along great” with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as he stressed the importance of maintaining good relations with leaders of nuclear-armed nations.

Trump made the remarks during a campaign rally in Ohio ahead of the U.S. midterm elections while discussing his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping and defending his ties with leaders of major powers.

“I get along great with Kim Jong-un,” Trump said, adding, “Isn’t it nice to get along with the leaders of massive nations, massive nuclear nations?”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It appears Andrei Lankov got himself out of a Latvian jail because he is quoted in the media supporting President Lee’s idea for a freeze deal with North Korea:

Lee’s proposal reflects the reality that persuading Pyongyang to surrender its nuclear arsenal is increasingly unlikely, said Andrei Lankov, a professor at Kookmin University in Seoul who specializes in North Korean affairs. “North Koreans have always been determined to remain nuclear,” he told Stars and Stripes by phone Wednesday. “Their experience of decades of negotiations has demonstrated that no amount of pressure, no amount of compensation or reward will persuade them to surrender their nuclear weapons.”

The “least bad option,” Lankov said, is to accept that North Korea is unlikely to denuclearize and “try to freeze the situation in its current shape.” Lankov cautioned, however, that securing such an agreement would be difficult. “North Koreans are likely to demand a lot in exchange for the agreement to freeze their program,” he said. North Korea’s improving economy and support from China and Russia mean Pyongyang would probably demand significantly more in exchange for concessions than it did during negotiations with Washington seven years ago, Lankov said.

Stars and Stripes

You cna read more at the link.

I do have to wonder what Zelensky was trying to accomplish with this disclosure?:

South Korea’s presidential office demanded an official explanation and apology from Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of disclosing the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war to ‌South Korea and then falsely denying that the two sides had agreed to keep the move confidential.

“The ‌presidential office expresses strong regret over Ukraine’s unilateral disclosure and its subsequent false announcement that there had not been a non-disclosure agreement,” Seong Ghi-hong, senior presidential secretary for public relations, said in a statement released on Sunday.

Reuters

You can read more at the link.

It is arguable that Trump got what he wanted again though the media will never admit it:

Under the deal — which reaffirmed “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark” and recognised Greenland’s “right to self-determination” — Washington will establish military bases in Narsarsuaq in the south of the island and Mestersvig in the east, in addition to the Pituffik base it already operates in the north.

In a section aimed at barring U.S. adversaries China and Russia from gaining a foothold in the Arctic, the agreement blocks non-NATO, non-EU countries from strategic sectors in Greenland.

“The Parties agree that states or investors from a state that is not a member of NATO, a NATO partner, or an EU member state shall not be allowed to have control, significant influence, or access to non-public information that may constitute a threat to national security or public order within particularly sensitive sectors or activities in the territory of Greenland (including the Territorial Waters), unless agreed between the Parties that the activities of such states or investors would not constitute a threat to national security or public order,” the agreement says.

The agreement also stipulates that Greenland, home to 57,000 inhabitants, must continue to abide by the agreement even if it obtains independence from Denmark, and must remain in or join NATO “if necessary”.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but this is another example of Trump making what appears to be outrageous demands and settling on what he really wanted while the media calls him stupid.

The problem with the calls to slow down AI development is will the Chinese do the same?

The CEO of Anthropic said Saturday the artificial-intelligence industry should slow its fast-moving development to give safety measures time to catch up. Without such a slowdown, Dario Amodei warned that within six to 12 months, AI could be capable of leading a swarm of agents that could take over the entire internet.

The warning comes as worries about AI grow inside and outside the industry and reports continue to emerge about increasingly powerful systems that solve problems beyond human capacity but could also go rogue and carry out other, more harmful tasks. The worries have grown so loud that the CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, said in an interview with Fortune that his company would wait until next year to start selling its stock to investors on Wall Street as it focuses on safety.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but AI development is basically this generation’s Manhattan Project. Who ever achieves AI dominance first will have a massive strategic advantage like the U.S. had after World War II.

The world was lucky that the U.S. was very magnanimous after World War II because it could have easily used nuclear weapons to crush all communist threats and stop any rivals from building their own nukes.

If China gets advanced AI first because the U.S. slows down development, can they be trusted to be as magnanimous as the U.S.? Or will they use their AI advantage to power drones, aircraft, robots, and other military equipment to conquer their perceived enemies while they have the advantage?

I rather US develops this technology first so we don’t have to find out.

Here is what is being section what Korea will do with any possible deployment to the Middle East:

Local news reports have speculated on the potential list of military assets for deployment, including the P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, a logistics support ship and explosive ordnance disposal teams — mainly non-combat assets.

However, the naval logistics support vessel has reportedly been ruled out as its operation would require dispatching more than 100 sailors.

The assessment team likely visited the Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi, home to a primary U.S. military installation in the UAE, to check operational conditions for the potential P-8A deployment.

Sending an assessment team to a candidate deployment site is part of the required procedures under the defense ministry’s directives on overseas military deployment. Upon return, the team is obliged to report the result of the mission to the National Security Council.

The defense ministry, however, has stressed that the team’s dispatch does not mean the deployment will follow, saying that its purpose was strictly to assess the security environment and safety conditions near the strait.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I still think counter-drone and missile defense in support of UAE is play here.

The ruling party and the Korean public do not like Trump which makes it politically difficult to do this deployment in support of Trump. Instead frame it as a request for defensive assistance from the UAE, a long time strategic partner of the ROK. President Lee should not even bring Trump’s name up when discussing this deployment in order to sell it to the Korean public.

If anything I would hope these threats would make the ROK government more determined to deploy assets to the Middle East to show they are not easily intimidated by the Thugs of Tehran:

Complicating Seoul’s deliberations on the issue is Iran’s stern warning against any potential military dispatch to the strait.

“Any other country maintaining a military presence or participating in operations in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz can only be regarded as directly supporting the perpetrators of the aggression, and it will lead to serious consequences,” Esmaeil Baqaei, spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, wrote on X on Monday.

His social media post also carried a photo with a Korean-language message: “A dangerous choice comes with consequences.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I still think deploying anti-drone and missile defense forces to help defend the UAE is a strategy the ROK should pursue. As the Iranian regime becomes more economically desperate they are going to lash out and attack regional energy infrastructure which South Korea can help UAE defend against.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes South Korea to make a decision on this deployment:

South Korea has dispatched an investigation team to assess the situation in the conflict-stricken Strait of Hormuz, the defense ministry said Tuesday, amid repeated calls from Washington for Seoul to assist its war efforts against Iran.

The team departed for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over the weekend and is expected to return as early as this week. The examination results will be reported to the National Security Council, the ministry added.

“It is aimed at assessing the state of affairs and the security situation in the strait,” a ministry official explained, stressing that the dispatch “was not decided on the premise of military deployment.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.