Here are some excerpts from John Bolton’s upcoming book which for people following Korean issues, at least from the excerpts appears to be nothing new:

U.S. President Donald Trump told North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their June 2018 summit in Singapore that he was open to lifting United Nations sanctions on the regime and would think about it, Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, was quoted as writing in his upcoming memoir.

In his book, “The Room Where It Happened,” which is due to be published next week, Bolton writes that Kim told Trump as they were leaving the meeting that he was glad the two had agreed to follow the “action for action” approach in exchanging North Korea’s denuclearization for U.S. concessions, according to Sue Mi Terry, a former CIA analyst who currently works for the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

Kim asked if lifting U.N. sanctions would be next, and Trump responded that “he was open to it and wanted to think about it,” Terry wrote on her Twitter account Thursday. “So Kim left with optimistic expectations.”

On South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises, Trump repeatedly complained about how expensive and provocative they are, and how he viewed them as a waste of money, Bolton continues in his book, Terry said.

“So when Kim said he wanted the U.S. to reduce or eliminate exercises, Trump said he would override the generals and do so,” she tweeted.

“Neither Kelly, Pompeo, nor Bolton — who were sitting right there! — were consulted and of course not Mattis (who wasn’t there),” she added, quoting the memoir. “No consultations with S Korea either. Trump just gave in to Kim without consulting or notifying anyone.”

Yonhap

Here is what Bolton had to say about the Singapore summit:

Trump debated between a small deal and walking away.

He decided “walking away” was more dramatic and would give him leverage in other negotiations, Terry quoted Bolton as writing.

“Bolton confirms a deal was close in Hanoi but Kim had nothing to offer except Yongbyun,” she wrote, referring to North Korea’s main nuclear complex. “Trump pleaded with Kim to add something to his offer, but Kim refused. So Trump walked, knowing it would make him look good.”

I have been saying for years that North Korea is never going to give up their nuclear weapons. I can’t think from the Kim regime’s perspective one good reason to do so after what they have seen happen to both Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi.

Limiting the number of nuclear weapons and delivery systems seems like a more realistic goal which I wonder if anyone was advising President Trump on?

On PBS Frontline this week there is a really good show about the United States’ coronavirus response. Part of the show compares the U.S. to what South Korea did. ROK Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha was heavily featured in the show.

The major difference pointed out which has been discussed before on this blog is how quickly South Korea was able to ramp up the private industry to produce test kits. They did this in a week. The CDC in the United States decided to create their own test kits which were tainted due to poor manufacturing and caused a month long delay in ramping up testing, which it eventually turned to private industry to augment.

You can watch, The Virus: What Went Wrong at the link.

The difference between the propaganda leaflets war now going on is that in South Korea people would just laugh at North Korean propaganda while in North Korea, the activists that launch their propaganda balloons is a threat to state stability:

The North’s Korean Central News Agency website showed pictures of North Korean workers sorting printed propaganda flyers in piles. One of them showed pictures of President Moon Jae-in with dirty cigarette butts in a plastic bag.

“It is very regrettable that North Korea unveiled via a media outlet its plan to send massive anti-South Korea leaflets, and we demand its immediate halt,” the ministry said in a statement. 

“Such acts by North Korea are a clear violation of the inter-Korean agreement, a step that does not resolve wrong practices between the two Koreas but rather exacerbates them,” it said, stressing that it does no good for inter-Korean relations or the peace process on the Korean Peninsula. 

It also said the government has vowed to sternly deal with anti-Pyongyang leafleting by some civic groups and stepped up control near the border towns to crack down on the activities.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

It appears that the U.S.’s efforts to go after Chinese telecom giant Huawei for their state sponsored spying is having a great positive business impact for Samsung:

The move announced on Friday comes as the tech giant is dominating the network equipment sector at a time when telecom companies in different countries are shunning Huawei, the top supplier of network equipment, over security concerns.     
   
“Samsung is rapidly expanding its customer pool, signing four new 5G contracts in the last seven months, including with operators in Canada, the United States and New Zealand,” it said in a statement.    
   
Back in March, Samsung announced it will supply 5G new radio solutions, including Massive MIMO radios, to Spark New Zealand, the largest telecom provider in the country. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the coronavirus spread in South Korea:

South Korea’s virus fight is dragging on, with a steady rise in new virus cases and untraceable infections, along with a spike in imported cases. Health authorities warned that another possible wave of infections and “hidden” virus spreaders across the country may strain the country’s containment efforts.

The country added 49 new cases on Friday, including 32 local infections, raising the total caseload to 12,306, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

The number of new daily COVID-19 cases marks a slight slowdown from a three-week high of 59 a day earlier.

Of the locally transmitted cases, 26 were reported in the densely populated Seoul and nearby metropolitan areas, around half of the country’s 50-million population lives.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but something never mentioned in these articles is if the infection level is such that the hospitals can’t keep up. It appears that the hospitals are doing fine considering the death toll right now is 280 people:

Health authorities said that the country may roll back to strict distancing in daily life if the number of new cases falls back to single digits.

There were no additional deaths, keeping the total death toll to 280.

The fatality rate came to 2.27 percent, but it shot up to 25.65 percent for those aged 80 and above.

Health authorities said it is worrisome that South Korea has been experiencing a hike in the portion of elderly among new patients.

Patients aged 50 and above accounted for a whopping 55 percent of new infections in the first two weeks of June, marking a drastic rise from only 12 percent posted a month earlier.

It seems to me this will just be the new normal until herd immunity happens and the virus runs its course. The key will be making sure the hospitals are not overwhelmed so the most critical patients can be treated which the numbers are showing South Korea is doing a great job of.