Thursday, February 28, 2019

North Korea Denies Trump's Account of Summit Collapse: “Art of the No Deal”

NK Disputes Trump's Deal No Deal Non-Proposal

Yong-byon, NK (녕변핵시설) Nuclear Facility
(62 Miles North of Pyongyang)

From Hanoi via Politico – Trump-Kim summit falls apart with this headline:

“North Korea denies Trump's account of summit collapse”

A senior North Korean official contradicted Trump’s denial that his country had insisted on the removal of all sanctions in return for dismantling a key nuclear facility.

In a rare news conference addressing the reason why nuclear talks broke down in Hanoi early Thursday, North Korea's FM, Ri Yong-ho, added “that his country would dismantle the facility if some U.S. sanctions are first lifted.” 

Specially, Ri said he asked theU.S. to lift articles of sanctions that impede the civilian economy and the livelihood of our people.” He also confirmed that his country would dismantle its Yong-byon nuclear production facility (Korean:녕변핵시설), and in “in the presence of U.S. experts.”

(I Note: This last part means to me that NK offered a “trust and verify provision” that Trump never even mentioned as part of any final agreement from him BTW).

Trump during a news conference earlier in Hanoi said: “North Korea wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety in return for dismantling Yong-byon.” 

Trump then walked away from his talks with Kim Jong-Un because of that request adding: They were willing to de-nuke a large portion of the areas that we wanted, but we couldn't give up all of the sanctions for that.”



My 2 cents: That last statement from Trump is exactly the opposite of what North Korean FM Ri said they were willing to do: “Close Yong-byon for partial sanctions being lifted.” 

Trump blew that out or proportion misrepresenting that NK actually wanted. Then Trump walked away. 

More details to follow. Thanks for stopping by.

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