No hurry on North Korea denuclearisation

Following a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore last month, President Donald Trump said that sanctions would only be removed “when we are sure the nukes are no longer a factor”.

According to the BOK, the North had a per-capita Gross National Income of 1.46 million won (US$1,011), while the South’s was 23 times higher. “We have no speed limit”, the USA president told reporters.

“If those requests were gangster-like, then the world is a gangster because there was a unanimous decision at the U.N. Security Council about what needs to be achieved”, he told reporters.

“Russia has agreed to help with North Korea, where relationships with us are very good and the process is moving along”. Trump naively continues to believe that the power of his handshake is enough to make a duplicitous adversary suddenly transform into a reliable negotiating partner.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday there is “no rush” on its negotiations with North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program. Until just before the historic U.S. Diplomats are now expected to hammer out the details.

North Korea’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dropped 3.5 percent in 2017, the biggest drop since the 6.5 percent drop in 1997.

Trump is focused on the USA mid-term elections in November since he could face impeachment if the Republicans lose that race. After officials briefed him about the project and its delays, he was “speechless” and “extremely enraged”, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly called his ambassadors and heads of the country’s overseas missions back to Pyongyang on Wednesday night. China has virtually resumed business as usual with North Korea and Russian Federation is turning a blind eye to the North’s coal exports that directly violate UN Security Council resolutions. The move was taken to protect the European Union market from a surge of steel heading to the single economic bloc after the USA imposition of tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum. We should also acknowledge and encourage the continued positive contribution of South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in, who has perhaps done more than anyone to get diplomacy onto the table.

However, analysts believe wider sanctions a year ago are likely to make the economic deterioration in 2018 worse than 2017, which could add to humanitarian need in the politically isolated state.

The issue resurfaced this month when a United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea called for a “thorough” and “independent” investigation after he met with some of the defectors in question.