It will be interesting to see how far these anti-US groups are willing to go to protest President Trump during his visit to South Korea. I suspect the Moon administration will keep them in check in order to not embarrass themselves during President Trump’s visit, but I guess we will see:
Anti-Trump posters at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, Sunday / Korea Times photo by Jung Min-ho
Saturday night was supposed to be a time to celebrate the first anniversary of the massive candlelit protests that eventually helped oust corruption-tainted former President Park Geun-hye.But some anti-U.S.groups used the gathering as an opportunity to promote their own propaganda.
“No Trump, no war,” was one of the key messages shouted at Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square by some anti-U.S.groups.Led by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the country’s second-largest umbrella trade union, they vowed to do all they can to mar U.S.President Donald Trump’s state visit to Korea next month.
They called Trump a threat to peace on the Korean peninsula, saying they will follow him and stage protests during his visit.
Trump is scheduled to meet with his Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in, Nov.7, and deliver a speech at the National Assembly the following day.
The groups said they plan to stage a protest in front of Cheong Wa Dae when the two are supposed to have dinner there and hold another rally when Trump speaks at the Assembly.
The KCTU has a history of anti-U.S.protests.On Oct.14, its members gathered near a Busan hotel, where the U.S.Navy held a party to celebrate its 242-year history, chanting messages like “U.S.troops go home!” [Korea Times]
Here is the latest criticism from Senator Corker against President Trump:
This AP file photo shows Sen. Bob Corker. (Yonhap)
A U.S. Republican senator called out President Donald Trump again on Sunday, saying the commander-in-chief is hampering diplomatic efforts to resolve the nuclear crisis with North Korea.
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), who has recently been involved in a personal feud with Trump, reiterated his argument as the president prepares for his first official visit to Asia later this week.
“When our secretary of state is sitting down with a partner that matters most — China — trying to negotiate something that would resolve and keep us from going into military conflict with North Korea, which brings in South Korea, Japan, China, and Russia, and he’s knee-capped by the president, it hurts our nation. It hurts our efforts,” the senator told CBS.
“It leads us more fully towards the conflict that most of us would like to see resolved in another way. The tweets that are sent out mocking a leader of another country raises tensions in the region,” he added, referring to Trump’s references to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as “Little Rocket Man.” [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but I think President Trump is just trying to change the dynamic that has been missing from past diplomatic efforts that the threat of a military strike this time is very real. Does anyone think the robust UN sanctions and so far China’s efforts to implement them would have happened if there wasn’t a real concern that President Trump was serious about a military strike?
Here is what retired General and former CIA Director David Petraeus had to say about President Trump’s rhetoric towards North Korea:
David Petraeus
The United States is unlikely to go to nuclear war with North Korea despite the recent escalation in tensions, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency said Sunday.
David Petraeus, who served in the Barack Obama administration from 2011-2012, said he thinks U.S. President Donald Trump has been using tough rhetoric with North Korea to get the attention of the leadership in China, not in Pyongyang.
“This is about getting President Xi’s attention … so that China will really clamp down on the umbilical cord through which 90 percent of the trade that goes to and from North Korea transits,” Petraeus said in an interview on ABC News.
China is able to “bring North Korea to its senses,” he added, alluding to Beijing’s leverage as Pyongyang’s main ally and economic benefactor.
North Korea carried out two long-range missile tests in July and a sixth nuclear test in September. Trump declared shortly thereafter that he would “totally destroy” the North if it posed a direct threat to the U.S.
Petraeus said a nuclear war is still unlikely.
“I don’t think likely. No,” he said. “I think, in fact, that again all of this is a communications strategy that is trying to make sure that China understands that this administration is in a very different situation from any of its predecessors, that North Korea on this president’s watch could have the capability to hit a city in the United States with a nuclear weapon.” [Yonhap]
If the ROK government and the State Department have their way, the answer is no:
It has become the ultimate symbol of American resolve against the threat of North Korea: a visit by the U.S. commander in chief to “freedom’s frontier,” the heavily guarded Demilitarized Zone that has separated the North and South for 64 years.
Wearing bomber-style jackets, surrounded by military officers, peering through binoculars, all but one president since Ronald Reagan has gazed across the barren strip of land at the 38th parallel from an observation post — and been moved to talk tough. In April, Vice President Mike Pence, undertaking the same solemn ritual, said he toured the DMZ so the North Koreans could “see our resolve in my face.”
But as President Donald Trump prepares for a 12-day swing next month through five Asian nations to bolster international pressure on Pyongyang, the administration is divided over whether he should make the pilgrimage, an issue that remains unresolved. Some aides worry a visit could further inflame already heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula, while others have expressed concern over Trump’s personal safety, according to people who have spoken to administration officials.
Asian foreign policy veterans of both the Obama and George W. Bush administrations said it would be foolish for Trump not to go. But the White House is facing opposition from South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s administration and the U.S. State Department over fears that a visit would ratchet up Trump’s war of words with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but if people are worried about President Trump saying something provocative about North Korea during his visit does the location really matter? As far as his personal safety does anyone really think the North Koreans will assassinate President Trump while visiting Panmunjom and start a war that will end the regime? I guess we will see how this plays out.
If you watch anything today, watch what retired General and White House Chief of Staff said at a press conference yesterday. No matter what you think of this whole condolence call controversy this is pretty powerful stuff. Here is an excerpt:
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.
Invoking the death of his son, a Marine, in Afghanistan, White House chief of staff John Kelly delivered an impassioned defense on Thursday of President Trump’s outreach to families of four Americans recently killed in Niger. Kelly also denounced Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., as “selfish” for criticizing Trump for his message to one soldier’s widow.
“I appeal to America: Let’s not let this, maybe, last thing that’s held sacred in our society: a young man, young woman going out and giving his or her life for our country. Let’s try to somehow keep that sacred,” Kelly said in an unusual appearance in the White House briefing room. “It eroded a great deal yesterday by the selfish behavior of a member of Congress.”
Wilson had said that Trump callously told Myeshia Johnson — whose husband Army Sgt. La David Johnson was killed in an Oct. 4 patrol in Niger — that her husband “knew what he signed up for.” The congresswoman, a Johnson family friend, reportedly overheard parts of the conversation while riding in the same car as the widow. Trump flatly denied that account on Twitter Wednesday and said he had “proof.” The soldier’s mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, reportedly said that the president had “disrespected” her family.
But Kelly, a retired Marine general, broadly confirmed Wilson’s account — while explaining that Trump had drawn inspiration from what the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joseph Dunford, told him when Robert Kelly was killed after stepping on a landmine while on patrol in Afghanistan in 2010.
“He said ‘Kell, he was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into, by joining the Marines — that 1 percent — he knew what the possibilities were, because we’re at war,” Kelly said. “‘When he died, he was surrounded by the best men on this Earth, his friends.’
“That’s what the president tried to say to four families the other day,” Kelly said. “I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning, and brokenhearted, at what I saw a member of Congress doing. A member of Congress who listened in on a phone call from the president of the United States to a young wife, and, in his way, tried to express that opinion — he was a brave man, a fallen hero. He knew what he was getting himself into, because he enlisted — there was no reason to enlist, he enlisted. And he was where he wanted to be, exactly where he wanted to be, exactly the people he wanted to be with, when his life was taken. That was the message.” [Yahoo News]
You can read more and watch the video at the link. General Kelly definitely provides the needed context of what the President had tried to say. The President probably should have took General Kelly’s advice and not made the call considering the difficulty he can sometimes have articulating what he means. But like General Kelly I was surprised that a member of Congress after something like this happens, the first thing they think of is to find a camera to run in front of to score political points. Then the media deciding to run with it like they have is just as bad. Our political and media culture have definitely hit a new low.
It is going to be really interesting to see what President Trump says during his visit to South Korea. On prior foreign visits since taking the Presidency he has been pretty restrained with what he has said. However, it will be interesting to see if he makes any “tear down this wall” like statements to North Korea during his visit:
President Donald Trump
South Korea will provide the best treatment it can offer to a foreign dignitary when U.S.President Donald Trump arrives here Nov.7 for a two-day state visit, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.
Trump will be the first sitting U.S.head of state to make a “state visit” in 25 years following George H. W.Bush in 1992. He will also be the first head of state to visit Korea since the Moon Jae-in government was launched in May.
“A state visit is made only once for a country during a Korean president’s term,” presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said.“Considering this, Trump’s state visit means we are treating him with the best respect as a top guest.”
Foreign leaders’ visits are divided into state, official, working and private visits, with each governed by different protocols.
A state visit usually includes welcome and farewell ceremonies upon arrival and departure, an artillery salute, an official welcome ceremony at Cheong Wa Dae, a state dinner with a performance, a summit and cultural programs.Trump’s visit this time will include almost all such events, according to Park.
Trump and first lady Melania will arrive here in the morning following their visit to Japan.They will leave for Beijing in the afternoon the next day.Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, will also accompany the first couple as a member of the official entourage. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but President Trump will arrive on the morning of November 7th and is scheduled to give a speech to the National Assembly after visiting the Blue House. There are no plans to visit the DMZ during his visit because of the current tensions with North Korea.
Here is the latest on what the expert class think of President Trump’s latest statements about negotiating with North Korea:
President Donald Trump said North Korea has been making “fools of U.S. negotiators” and “only one thing will work,” the latest hint of possible military action against the communist state.
The comments came amid fears that the North may test-fire another missile in connection with the anniversary Tuesday of the foundation of its ruling party. (……)
“Trying to ‘out Kim Jong Un’ Kim Jong Un in the threat department is not a winning strategy,” said Kingston Reif, director for disarmament and threat reduction policy at the U.S.-based Arms Control Association.
“It’s only making the problem worse and reinforces North Korea’s desire to advance its nuclear and missile development as rapidly as possible in order to strengthen deterrence against a possible U.S. attack,” he added. (……)
Past efforts at negotiating an end to North Korea’s missile and nuclear development have had limited success in exchange for concessions from the West.
Washington and Pyongyang signed a deal known as the “agreed framework” in 1994 in which the North committed to freezing its plutonium weapons program in exchange for aid. But that agreement collapsed in 2002.
Subsequent six-party talks involving the two Koreas, China, Russia, the United States and Japan fell apart in 2009 after the North launched a rocket shortly after President Barack Obama’s inauguration.
Reif pointed out talks have been effective in the past.
“A more effective strategy would be to marry continued pressure, deterrence and containment with pursuit of diplomatic off ramps,” he said. “There is no military solution to this growing problem.” [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but first of all President Trump’s makes comments are irrelevant to North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. They were rapidly pursuing them during the Obama administration and they are rapidly pursuing them now. It doesn’t matter who is in the White House the Kim regime has made this a national goal to become a nuclear weapons state regardless of who is in the White House. The US could re-elect Jimmy Carter and Kim Jong-un would still be pursuing nuclear weapons.
As far as President Trump’s comments, it is clearly a negotiating strategy for those that pay attention. Based off of Trump’s Art of the Deal style negotiations he wants the North Koreans to think he is about to launch a massive military strike on them. This actually strengthens the State Departments negotiations attempts to find an off ramp.
Plus anyone that thinks there has been any success with negotiations with Kim Jong-un is fooling themselves. Prior negotiations brought delays in the North Koreans nuclear program when Kim Jong-il was in power, but did not end it. Can anyone name one success negotiations has brought the United States during Kim Jong-un’s time in power? The Kim Jong-un regime has made it quite clear that they plan to become a fully developed nuclear weapons state.
However, as I stated before the off ramp is not going to be North Korea giving up their nuclear weapons program. At best some sort of freeze deal could be worked out which is what the Russians, the Chinese and the academic class has been advocating for in recent months.
If this report is true the US President has plenty of different options to choose from if military force becomes the only way to deal with North Korea’s nuclear and ICBM programs:
US defence chiefs have drawn up nine options for military action against Kim Jong-un’s North Korea to destroy its nuclear weapons threat, the Evening Standard has been told.
They escalate to different levels of intensity and could be pre-emptive or retaliatory, and could be ordered by Donald Trump in response to an attack on the US Pacific naval base on Guam or American allies such as Japan or South Korea.
However, all of them risk triggering a devastating response by Pyongyang against South Korea, using conventional weapons. At least one senior Whitehall figure is concerned that there may be a shift in Washington towards military action. [Evening Standard]
