US and South Korea give Kim a big concession

[OldLady]

KJU is giving concessions. Allowing our partner So. Korea to bow out of having the B-52 exercise in their country, which is a clear provocation to KJU, is not at all unreasonable or in any way skin off our nose. The Pentagon said it was cool. So what is your objection? Is it just to criticize Trump?

My objection is that it is a concession. No concessions ought to be given to Un before the fucking talks are held. Why give him anything just to ensure that the talks THAT HAVE ALREAY BEEN SCHEDULED actually take place?

Trump is a self serving moron. He deserves all criticism he gets.

Again, I find you to be dull. It’s becoming quite common.

LL, there's no need for personal insults. I asked a question and you answered it. Why does it need to go beyond that?

I’ll tell you why, since you want to know.

You are not a raging nutbag. You have a brain in your head. You don’t hate people of color or gay people or Muslims. You believe in science. You know that man is responsible for climate change. You know that immigrants drive our economy. Etc. etc.

I expect that you won’t be fooled by BS and you have repeatedly proved me wrong. So, I decided to express that fact to you.

That’s why.

My brain says that KJU has already given "concessions" by beginning to dismantle his nuclear facility, by engaging in peace talks with South Korea, and by sending home three of our hostages. All we have done is skip a B-52 exercise in South Korea, at South Korea's request.

Why, if North Korea is willing to make good faith moves toward negotiation, aren't we? If we were agreeing to give the dude money or to lift sanctions, that would be enormously stupid, given North Korea's track record. However, this minor adjustment in our military exercises isn't hurting anything.
I understand what you're saying about "giving an inch" with NoKo. I just see negotiations differently. We have to be able to do that. We're giving them a meaningless gesture. If it makes them happy, all the better for us.

Granting Un a MEETING WITH THE PRESIDENT is our biggest concession. That should happen only AFTER the nuts and bolts of a solid deal have been worked out. It LEGITIMIZES him and gives him full diplomatic status for NOTHING.

Giving anything more than that just to assure the meeting is essentially groveling.

Understanding your strong ties with Japan, LoneLaugher, it makes sense you would take a hard line stance against this maniac; Japan is in his neighborhood. It's easy for us to talk about this and that--he's half a planet away. South Korea and Japan, not so much.

I have heard the hard line argument before; many including you believe Trump should never have agreed to this meeting in the first place. I'm no expert; you could be right. My kid told me when I went to college that I was too nice to be an English teacher; I certainly wouldn't be any good at negotiating with a manipulative, deceitful regime like NoKo. I just don't see the military exercises foregoing the B-52's involvement in South Korea as a "concession" so much as a reciprocal gesture of goodwill. It doesn't seem to me that we "gave" Un anything of value but we did allow him to simmer down some and hopefully continue with his willingness to negotiate.

I appreciate that you aren't just taking the partisan position that Trump can't tie his own shoes.

 

[AZGAL]

North Korea: Tightened controls on communications with the outside world leave families devastated
9 March 2016, 15:19 UTC
Ordinary North Koreans caught using mobile phones to contact loved ones who have fled abroad, risk being sent to political prison camps or other detention facilities as the government tightens its stranglehold on people’s use of communication technology, reveals Amnesty International in a new report published today.

Nothing can ever justify people being thrown in detention for trying to fulfil a basic human need – to connect with their family and friends.

 

[AZGAL]

U.S. forces in South Korea not subject to North Korea-U.S. talks: South Korea official

By Hyonhee Shin
Reuters June 15, 2018

SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. military forces in South Korea are not subject to negotiations between North Korea and the United States because they are a matter for the U.S.-South Korean alliance, a senior official in South Korea's presidential office said on Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump said after his historic summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday that he would stop "expensive, provocative" war games that U.S. troops conduct with the South.

He also said he would eventually like to bring U.S. troops home from South Korea, adding, "That’s not part of the equation. At some point, I hope it would be."

About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically still at war.

"Let me be clear. There has been no discussions and no change in position on the matter of the issue of U.S. troops in South Korea," said the high-level South Korean official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ...