US Ready for Talks with North Korea?

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

Trump threatened to "totally destroy" the country, unleashing "fire and fury like the world has never seen." 

He called diplomacy a waste of time, rejecting it while holding provocative military exercises with South Korea and Japan - Pyongyang calls rehearsing for war.

His administration leaked plans for a "decapitation strike," a saber-rattling move, not something likely to announced if initiating it is coming.

Since an uneasy armistice ended Korean war, Washington refused to formally end it with a peace treaty, never engaged in responsible diplomacy with the intention of normalizing relations

Each time initiated, talks ended in failure. Washington refuses to respect DPRK sovereignty. Time and again, it proved its untrustworthiness, lacking good faith, breaching deals made.

It's why North Korea and other countries are leery of negotiating with a duplicitous partner, an imperial country seeking global dominance, wanting all other nations subservient to its interests - an agenda assuring endless conflicts and chaos.

Last spring, addressing Security Council members, Rex Tillerson blasted North Korea, turned truth on its head, claiming years of US "well-intentioned diplomatic efforts to halt (North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile) programs have failed," adding: 

"It is only by first dismantling them that there can be peace, stability, and economic prosperity for all of Northeast Asia."

"With each successive detonation and missile test, North Korea pushes Northeast Asia and the world closer to instability and broader conflict."

"The threat of a North Korean nuclear attack on Seoul, or Tokyo, is real. And it is likely only a matter of time before North Korea develops the capability to strike the US mainland."

Washington never negotiated in good faith with North Korea since the Truman era. Its permanent war agenda threats world peace.

Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic weapons are solely for defense, genuinely fearing US aggression, these capabilities its best deterrent.

Has Tillerson changed his mind? "We're ready to talk anytime they'd like to talk…without precondition(s)," he said during an address to the hawkish Atlantic Council.

At the same time, he killed any chance for serious diplomacy, explaining Washington's regional regional agenda remains unchanged, adding:

"Our policy with respect to the DPRK is really quite clear and that is the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."

On the same day, US and Japanese forces engaged in one of their most provocative military exercises, simulating war on the DPRK, escalating tensions, more evidence of Washington's true agenda.

Tillerson's diplomatic outreach was pretense, a smoke screen, clearly understood by Pyongyang, knowing the futility of negotiating with a duplicitous partner, hostile to the country since the 1940s.

Nothing in prospect suggests responsible change, notably with neocon hawks in charge of Trump's geopolitical agenda, Tillerson sidelined on policymaking, the most impotent secretary of state in memory.

Regional tensions haven't abated. The threat of possible US aggression compels the DPRK's leadership to continue developing the most potent deterrent possible, perhaps its only chance for survival.

Anything less would be irresponsible. The duty of all sitting governments is protecting their nations and people from hostile threats.

Washington poses a major one, North Koreans bearing the burden since WW II ended.

A Final Comment

On Tuesday evening, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders released a statement, saying Trump's position on North Korea remains unchanged, stressing talks are pointless, rebuffing Tillerson's overture.

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