Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) suggested on Sunday that China may have pressured North Korea to take a harder line against U.S. negotiators during a recent visit to the isolated country by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“I see China’s hands all over this,” Graham told “Fox News Sunday,” citing an ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China as Beijing’s possible motivation. “We’re in a fight with China.”
Graham’s comments came a day after the North Korean foreign ministry released a lengthy statement condemning U.S. negotiators’ “gangster-like” demand for denuclearization.
The criticism suggests that talks between the U.S. and North Korea to end the country’s nuclear program may take longer than President Trump has said. After the president left a landmark summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month, he declared that Pyongyang was “no longer a nuclear threat.” – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]North Korea’s foreign ministry had a slightly different interpretation of the negotiations in the North Korean capital city.
“The U.S. side came only with its unilateral and gangster-like demand for denuclearization just calling for CVID, declaration and verification, all of which run counter to the spirit of the Singapore summit meeting and talks,” a North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
North Korea asserted that the U.S. failed to address their demands, such as bringing an end to the Korean War and establishing a permanent peace mechanism for the peninsula.
“The issues the U.S. side insisted on at the talks are all roots of troubles, which the previous administrations also had insisted on to disrupt the dialogue processes, stoke the distrust and increase the risk of war,” the foreign ministry said.
“The first DPRK-U.S. high-level talks [since the Singapore summit] brought us in a dangerous situation where we may be shaken in our unshakable will for denuclearization, rather than consolidating trust between the DPRK and the U.S.,” the statement said, suggesting that North Korea may turn away from the path to denuclearization if the U.S. does not change its attitude.
Rather than change course after North Korea’s rebuke, Pompeo doubled down, reaffirming his position.
“If those requests were gangster-like, the world is a gangster, because there was a unanimous decision at the U.N. Security Council about what needs to be achieved,” the secretary said, insisting that the U.S. and North Korea “made progress.”
We had “good faith, productive conversations which will continue in the weeks ahead,” he added, while noting that “sanctions will remain in place until final, fully verified denuclearisation as agreed to by Chairman Kim (Jong Un) occurs.” – READ MORE
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