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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsU.S. drops demand for full accounting of N. Korea nuclear program ahead of talks
HANOI, Vietnam U.S. negotiators are no longer demanding that North Korea agree to disclose a full accounting of its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs as part of talks this week between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, according to current and former senior U.S. officials.
The decision to drop, for now, a significant component of a potential nuclear deal suggests a reality that U.S. intelligence assessments have stressed for months is shaping talks as they progress: North Korea does not intend to fully denuclearize, which is the goal Trump set for his talks with Kim.
Disclosure of a full, verifiable declaration of North Korea's programs is the issue over which the last round of serious negotiations between Pyongyang and world powers, including the U.S., fell apart a decade ago.
Negotiations between U.S. and North Korean officials in advance of Trump and Kim's second summit, which begins Wednesday night over dinner in Hanoi, have focused heavily on a core component of Pyongyang's program, the Yongbyon nuclear reactor, officials said. Dr. Siegfried Hecker, a nuclear scientist who has visited the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center numerous times to assess their capabilities, said dismantling elements of the facility would be the most significant step North Korea could take toward denuclearization.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-drops-demand-for-full-accounting-of-n-korea-nuclear-program-ahead-of-talks/ar-BBUb4Ho?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout
Vinca
(50,326 posts)Arkansas Granny
(31,540 posts)Of course, I expect Trump to declare victory, regardless what else happens.
marble falls
(57,479 posts)soryang
(3,299 posts)The demands that Pompeo made for this in Pyongyang last July are what caused the breakdown in the talks after the June 12 summit.
When Pompeo was in Pyongyang October 7, 2018, the US demand for a complete inventory of nuclear weapons production facilities, weapons, missile bases, and so on,the so-called "hek list," as a condition for a second summit had already been dropped. If it wasn't the talks would have ended there, and Pompeo wouldn't have been invited back to Pyongyang.
More good faith step by step, reciprocal trust building measures are necessary before the negotiations will proceed to any sort of comprehensive inventory of all nuclear weapon program assets and inspection and verification measures. A framework to schedule and identify the steps along the way to this objective needs to reached
C_U_L8R
(45,035 posts)Trump is an imbecile playing with nuclear arms
keithbvadu2
(37,039 posts)Didn't Reagan say "Trust but verify"?
C_U_L8R
(45,035 posts)Reagan would know that Trump's a lightweight, an empty suit, a shyster, and a clown.