I think President Trump is more interested in modifying the treaty than ending it:

 The Japanese government has dismissed a U.S. media report saying that President Donald Trump spoke of ending the two nations’ longstanding postwar defense pact.

Bloomberg News, citing anonymous sources, reported Monday that Trump had privately mused about withdrawing from the “one-sided” security treaty with the United States’ longtime ally.

The president thinks the accord is unfair because it promises U.S. aid if Japan is attacked but doesn’t oblige Japan to come to America’s defense, the Bloomberg report said.

However, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, told reporters at a news conference in Tokyo Tuesday that “there is no such talk as mentioned in the report.” The Japanese government has dismissed a U.S. media report saying that President Donald Trump spoke of ending the two nations’ longstanding postwar defense pact.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It is unfortunate, but you can't reason with a #Kim ruler. No country–not #China, #Russia, #SouthKorea–has ever been able to entice #NorthKorea into good behavior over the long term. The regime in Pyongyang is inherently belligerent. https://t.co/EvEskkoTpg

— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) July 2, 2019

A new officer is now in charge of the Hump:

Col. Michael Tremblay assumed command of Camp Humphreys on Thursday as the Army’s new home in South Korea faces the final push in its much-delayed expansion.

Tremblay, a career infantryman, inherits a garrison that has experienced growing pains, including housing problems and traffic jams, as its population more than tripled to surpass 35,000 in just over three years. It’s ultimately expected to reach more than 40,000.

The next major move is due to occur when the problem-plagued hospital finally opens in November, triggering the final steps toward closing Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, which had served as the main U.S. military base in South Korea in the decades after the 1950-53 Korean War.

Tremblay, 46, of Schoolcraft, Mich., was most recently the executive officer to the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command in Florida.

Stars & Stripes

Here is my favorite part of the article:

The garrison was hit with a series of complaints about housing on Humphreys, including children stuck in elevators, mold and slow responses to work orders, during a town hall meeting held in February as part of a campaign to deal with a military-wide crisis.

The leadership responded swiftly, including establishing an elevator task force, and has expressed confidence that the most severe problems have been resolved.

An elevator task force had to be established to fix elevators on a brand new base. The incompetence and fraud surrounding the Camp Humphreys construction is staggering. Anyway best of luck to Colonel Tremblay in completing the relocation from Yongsan Garrison to Camp Humphreys.

It appears that the Abe administration has lost patience with the Moon administration over the forced labor ruling and decided to do what the Chinese did and economically retaliate against South Korea:

 South Korea’s trade minister said Monday the government plans to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Japan’s decision to tighten the rules for exports of semiconductor and display materials to Seoul, amid a simmering diplomatic row over wartime force labor. 

“South Korea has been making efforts to maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with Japan,” Industry Minister Sung Yun-mo told reporters, describing the Japanese measure as an “economic retaliation” against South Korea’s Supreme Court ruling on compensation for wartime forced labor.

Sung added the action contradicts not only WTO rules but also global efforts to seek a free, fair and predictable free-trade environment as proposed at the Group of 20 summit held in Japan last week.

“(The government) will continue to communicate closely with local firms to minimize the impact, and will take this event as an opportunity to beef up the competitiveness of the country’s parts, materials, and equipment (sectors),” Sung said, adding that Seoul will take all necessary measures including diversifying import sources.

Earlier in the day, the Japanese government said it will strengthen regulations on the export to South Korea of high-tech chemicals used in semiconductor and smartphone production starting Thursday, apparently in response to South Korea’s ruling on compensation for wartime forced labor.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but for those that have not been following this issue, the Japanese side does not dispute the forced labor claim, what they dispute is that they already paid compensation with the 1965 treaty. Instead of handing out money for individual compensation, the ROK government used the money to develop the economy instead.

As I have always said about this issue is the ROK government going to support compensation claims against China for their role in the destruction of South Korea during the Korean War that killed tens of thousands of South Koreans?

Speaking of China they have just launched their latest economic retaliation against South Korea for hosting the THAAD battery:

China removed ~120 billboard/bus station ads of #SouthKorean companies #Samsung, #Hyundai & #Kia overnight on 6/29 with no compensation nor notice. It recruited ~400 people using cranes & solder equipment. China’s pressure tactic.https://t.co/1V7PrA1Kft

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) July 1, 2019

Despite all the economic retaliation against South Korea from China over the THAAD dispute, the Moon administration has not lodged complaints to the WTO. This is just the latest example of hypocrisy between how the ROK government responds to the Japanese government compared to China.

If the New York Times report is to believed, there are members of the Trump administration advocating for a “freeze deal” which is really the first steps towards a “pretend denuclearization” deal with North Korea:

Washington’s goal in talks with North Korea remains its “final, fully verified denuclearization,” the U.S. State Department said Monday, denying speculation that the Trump administration was considering an incremental deal to freeze Pyongyang’s nuclear activity. 

A spokesman gave the response to a question from Yonhap on a New York Times report on Monday that said a splinter was widening within the administration over how to approach Pyongyang. The article said senior diplomatic officials are leaning towards an incremental approach as negotiations between the two countries resume.

The State Department’s Special Representative for North Korea Policy, Stephen Biegun, also denied the report, calling it “pure speculation.” 

According to the piece, U.S. officials are discussing a plan that could involve North Korea first closing down nuclear facilities capable of producing fissile material, and in return the United States could provide sanctions relief.  

This, in effect, would resemble the proposal that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un brought to his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, last February. Kim offered to shut down the Yongbyon nuclear complex in return for relief from five sets of economic sanctions imposed by the United States.

Under this possible deal for Yongbyon – or a larger one reportedly being considered by U.S. officials that would freeze activity at the nearby Kangson uranium facility as well – the North would no longer produce additional nuclear material, but none of its existing nuclear weapons or stockpiles would be touched. While this would imply de facto acceptance of North Korea’s status as a nuclear state, it could serve as an initial step toward full denuclearization in the future, the report said.

Joong Ang Ilbo

National Security Advisor John Bolton did not mince worlds on what he thought of the New York Times report:

I read this NYT story with curiosity. Neither the NSC staff nor I have discussed or heard of any desire to “settle for a nuclear freeze by NK.” This was a reprehensible attempt by someone to box in the President. There should be consequences. https://t.co/TTRPQkksza

— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) July 1, 2019

It is pretty clear that the New York Times is doing what they can to create strife within President Trump’s foreign policy team.

North Korean media needs to be read, in Korean, for more than a decade, to be understood in their context. And one needs to read more than what the North knows to be closely observed by the outside world. https://t.co/58EUhwmHUa

— the oranckay (@oranckay) July 1, 2019

It seems a bit premature from President Moon to declaring peace in our time:

 President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday that North Korea and the United States have effectively declared an end to their hostile relations with the symbolic weekend meeting between their leaders at the inter-Korean border.

Although they did not sign any document, their action was tantamount to a “de facto declaration of an end to hostile relations and the beginning of a full-fledged peace era,” Moon stressed, speaking at a Cabinet meeting.

He was referring to a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on Sunday.

Yonhap

President Moon might want to wait until next year to see if this is still the case because Kim Jong-un has previously said the regime is giving until next year for sanctions to be dropped. The Trump administration does not seem like it is going to drop sanctions without real denuclearization. I guess we will see what happens.

This news should not be a surprise to anyone:

Democratic lawmakers in the United States, including some running for the White House, say there’s little in President Donald Trump’s diplomatic track to convince them that his meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un (gihm jung oon) may lead to a nuclear breakthrough.

Trump is coming under criticism for what Democrats see as his affinity for authoritarian leaders such as Kim and they are skeptical that the Trump-Kim sit-down at the Demilitarized Zone may amount to anything more than a photo opportunity.

Sen. Chuck Schumer says “dictators seem to get elevated and people who believe in democracy not.”

Former Obama Housing Secretary Julian Castro, a presidential candidate, wonders why Trump appears keen to raise Kim’s profile when, according to Castro, Kim hasn’t abided by past commitments about the North’s weapons programs.

And Sen. Bernie Sanders, also a 2020 candidate, says he’s not opposed to sitting down with America’s adversaries, but he tells ABC’s “This Week” that “we need real diplomacy” and he hasn’t seen that under Trump

Associated Press

This is coming from the people who supported President Obama when he flew to Cuba with his whole family to hang out with the dictators there. I doubt President Trump’s engagement with North Korea is going to get them to denuclearize, but the claims from his critics sound more like “since Trump is for it, I must be against it” instead of any reasoned policy position.