Mike Pompeo: North Korea must agree to inspections of 'all of their sites'

Washington Examiner ^ | June 08, 2018 | Pete Kasperowicz

[TigerLikesRooster]

Mike Pompeo: North Korea must agree to inspections of 'all of their sites'

by Pete Kasperowicz | June 08, 2018 02:32 PM

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that reaching a denuclearization deal with North Korea will mean allowing the U.S. to inspect all of its nuclear sites, including those North Korea hasn't acknowledged.

"I don't want to get too far into the details, but when you think about complete denuclearization, it would certainly be all of their sites, not just those that have been declared, right?" Pompeo said in an interview with YTN Korea when asked how North Korea can win sanctions relief.

"So, we've got to make sure that it's complete," Pompeo added. "That takes a great deal of work, a great big commitment on the part of North Korea as well, and there'll be a parallel set of security assurances that are also big and bold and different."

President Trump will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday in a summit meeting that the U.S. hopes will result in an ongoing dialogue that can lead to a deal to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. But Pompeo said it's too early to say even whether both sides will release a statement after the meeting.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Still everything is open-ended.

What worries me is that even some symbolic declaration could give S. Korean left-wing government an excuse to dive headlong into breaking sanctions, starting to give them aid under various pretexts. Furthermore, there is already a proposal which could lead to de-mining DMZ with the excuse of recovering the remains of Korean War dead in the area. Given the chance, the government would love to essentially dismantle the military infrastructure. They are already working on perverse use of ‘military human right center’ to erode discipline, trying to go far beyond cases of abuse among ranks. Essentially, those in this organization could serve as political officers of communist party.

Same for China, which already shows the indication that it is loosening the grip on N. Korea sanction. Cross-border activities between China and N. Korea are reportedly picking up.

N. Korea probably wants to bargain it down to surrendering a few nukes and some missiles, but leave the rest as essentially an unsettled territory.

[TigerLikesRooster]

U.S. may want to hold up sanction relief before any real progress is made, but others would love to break it at the slightest inkling of softening stance of U.S..

[lodi90]

Never gonna happen. The Norks are just trying to hamstring POTUS on trade and run out the clock for the Chicoms.

[TigerLikesRooster]

No brainer, there, even though NK is not doing this just to serve China.

[elbook]

As long as the inspectors arrive with a full In and Out truck each time, then its fine with any North Koreans involved.

[trebb]

U.S. may want to hold up sanction relief before any real progress is made, but others would love to break it at the slightest inkling of softening stance of U.S..

That's been the stated intent from the get-go - no relief of sanctions until the Norks cave.

[Retvet]

Now why wasn’t this done with the Obama/Kerry/Iran treaty?

[TigerLikesRooster]

Correction: Essentially, those in this organization could serve as (the equivalent of) political officers of communist party.

[COBOL2Java]

As long as the inspectors arrive with a full In and Out truck each time, then its fine with any North Koreans involved.

I'm sure Fat Boi would go for that!

[caww]

It’s complicated to say the least.

How is Kim going to ever allow inspections etc as he would surely see it as intrusive? His regime is paranoid enough with it’s own people let alone allow foreign entities in to confirm he’s doing what he’s agreed on?

[caww]

Trump said on camera in the last couple days that if we hear him again saying “maximum pressure” then the meeting did not go well. He's stopped saying maximum pressure because it would interfere while negotiations are going on. So I found that he said this very interesting and will listen for it should the winds change.

[trebb]

Good to know.