PN's Voice 148

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PN's Voice 148, 04.12.2018
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PN's Voice No. 148  04. 12. 2018 
Small steps, Road to peace

Trump & Kim to Meet in Early 2019 

Donald Trump has said he is likely to meet Kim Jong-un in January or February of next year. Trump added that at some point he would invite the North Korean ruler to the United States. “We’re getting along very well. We have a good relationship,” Trump told reporters upon his return from the G20 summit in Argentina. The venue is also undecided at this moment in time, but Trump did reveal that three sites are under consideration. 

Last month the vice-president, Mike Pence, said Trump would push for a concrete plan outlining Pyongyang’s moves to end its arms programmes. Pence did clarify that while the U.S. would not require Pyongyang to provide a complete list of nuclear weapons and locations before the second summit, the meeting itself however, must produce a concrete plan. “I think it will be absolutely imperative in this next summit that we come away with a plan for identifying all of the weapons in question, identifying all the development sites, allowing for inspections of the sites and the plan for dismantling nuclear weapons,” Pence said in November. It was essential that international sanctions pressure be maintained on North Korea until its complete denuclearisation was achieved, he said.

North Korea was angered by Washington’s refusal to ease sanctions and warned it could resume its uclear programme.
Source : The Guardian

Moon says Kim's Seoul Visit will Accelerate Denuclearization

South Korean President Moon Jae-in highlighted the importance of a proposed visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to his country, saying it may help speed up the North's denuclearization process. Moon said the proposed visit may also help ensure greater success in the second U.S.-North Korea summit, expected to be held early next year.

"There is a possibility that Chairman Kim Jong-un's Seoul visit may be made within the year," the president said in a press conference. "But what is more important than whether the visit will be made within the year or not is that Chairman Kim's visit to Seoul may further promote North Korea's denuclearization and lead to greater progress," Moon said. He added that Kim's trip to Seoul, if made, will also be a historical event in itself, noting no North Korean leader has visited the South Korean capital since the division of the two Koreas in 1948.
Source : Yonhap News

Mattis: NK Most Urgent Threat to U.S.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has called North Korea the most urgent threat to the United States as negotiations to dismantle the regime's nuclear weapons program have stalled. During the Reagan National Defense Forum in California, Mattis was asked which of four countries pose the most serious threat to the U.S., answered “North Korea, China, Russia and Iran”. “In terms of urgency, North Korea is the problem…We have got to address that, that issue. It's an urgent issue. That's why the United Nations has Security Council resolutions that are unanimous." In terms of power, the defense secretary named Russia as the biggest threat, and in terms of will, China. 

Mattis said the effort to remove North Korea's nuclear weapons is "clearly in the diplomat's hands." "We have been able to actually reduce some of our exercises as a sincere measure, to say we want the diplomat to succeed," he said, referring to the suspension or scaling back of joint military exercises between South Korea and the U.S.
Source : Yonhap News

Moon & Trump Agree to Continue NK Sanctions until Complete Denuclearization

The leaders of South Korea and the United States have agreed that it's important to maintain existing sanctions on North Korea until complete denuclearization is achieved. The two presidents also agreed that a visit to Seoul by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could create momentum for peace-building efforts on the Korean Peninsula.

Moon's chief press secretary Yoon Young-chan said the two leaders held summit talks for half-an-hour on Friday on the side lines of the Group of 20 Leaders' Summit in Buenos Aires in Argentina. This marks Moon and Trump's sixth bilateral summit. Regarding whether Moon's agreement to maintain sanctions on Pyongyang was a change in his stance as he had called for easing sanctions, a senior presidential official told reporters that Moon has continuously said that it's necessary to boost mutual trust and this belief remains unchanged.
Source : KBS  


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