Trump and Kim to hold historic meeting

President Donald Trump agreed Thursday to a historic first meeting with Kim Jong Un in a stunning development in America's high-stakes nuclear standoff with North Korea.

Standing in front of the White House, South Korean National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong earlier announced the first ever meeting between a US president and North Korean leader, which he said would take place by the end of May.

Chung had recently returned from Pyongyang, where he met Kim personally. According to the South Korean official, the reclusive young leader "expressed his eagerness to meet president Trump as soon as possible."

Trump confirmed he had agreed to meet Kim -- hailing "great progress" in the push to persuade Pyongyang to end its nuclear program.

"Meeting being planned!" Trump tweeted. "Kim Jong Un talked about denuclearization with the South Korean Representatives, not just a freeze. Also, no missile testing by North Korea during this period of time."

"Great progress being made but sanctions will remain until an agreement is reached."

The news came almost out of the blue, after a period of extreme tension and bellicose rhetoric between Washington and Pyongyang that sounded like the growing drumbeat of war.

Just months ago, Trump mocked Kim by calling him "little rocket man" and Kim returned the favor by describing Trump as "mentally deranged" and a "dotard."

The United States and North Korea were foes throughout the Cold War and fought on the opposite side of a bloody war in the 1950s.

In the last two decades, they have been engaged in what is perhaps the world's most dangerous nuclear standoff, with 30,000 US military personnel stationed just over the border in the South.

- Paradigm shift -

Pyongyang's recent race to develop a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the continental United States prompted Trump to embark on a campaign of sanctions, diplomatic pressure and the threat of military force.

The White House said that strategy of "maximum pressure" would stay in place, for now.

"We look forward to the denuclearization of North Korea. In the meantime, all sanctions and maximum pressure must remain."

But the prospect of a top-level meeting is nothing short of a paradigm shift.

North Korean leaders have sought face-to-face talks with consecutive US presidents, who have rebuffed the notion as an effort to achieve strategic parity that does not exist.

Pyongyang now seems to have achieved its goal, while only agreeing to a temporary suspension of nuclear tests.

It is a gambit fraught with risk for Trump. On multiple occasions, Kim's father Kim Jong Il dangled the prospect of talks and denuclearization as a means of buying time, easing sanctions and dividing South Korea from its allies.

However his decision also carries historic echoes of Richard Nixon's visit to communist China or Barack Obama's overture to Cuba, both of which offered the hope of better ties.

- Opening or trap? -

The table was set for the announcement on Tuesday when South Korea shocked the world by announcing that the North had stated there was "no reason" to hold on to its nuclear weapons "if military threats towards the North are cleared and the security of its regime is guaranteed."

The North is open to "frank" talks with the United States on denuclearization and would suspend missile and nuclear tests while dialogue was under way, Chung said after returning from a meeting in Pyongyang.

Seoul also announced the two Koreas would hold a historic summit in the Demilitarized Zone next month -- and that the North's leader Kim Jong Un was ready to halt provocative missile and nuclear tests and sit down with its old enemies.

Trump had welcomed the offer as "very positive" and refused to rule out a meeting with Kim. "We have come a long way at least rhetorically with North Korea," Trump said.

However his Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told Congress he was "quite skeptical" and Vice President Mike Pence said the US position towards North Korea would not change "until we see credible, verifiable, and concrete steps toward denuclearization."

In the past North Korea has indicated that security guarantees mean US forces leave the Korean peninsula and break a mutual defense treaty with the South.

Although Trump's response was positive, his administration followed it up with another sharp rebuke when it declared that it had formally concluded Kim's regime had last year murdered his half-brother in a Malaysian airport with the banned VX nerve agent.

Trump also sounded a note of warning, signaling the threat of military action remains on the table should talks fail to make headway, and his administration said it would press ahead with potentially provocative joint war games with South Korea.

The United States says Pyongyang is testing -- and will soon complete -- an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuke to the continental United States.

That ominous technological breakthrough would put cities like Los Angeles and even New York in striking distance of a hostile regime, something that is unthinkable to many in the West Wing.

US and North Korea: foes face-to-face after decades of tension
Washington (AFP) March 9, 2018 - Following a historic announcement at the White House, US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are poised for a face-to-face meeting.

Since the end of the Korean War, the countries' relations have been marked by high tensions and periodic, but short-lived, thaws.

Here is a recap of their troubled history:

- A divided Korean peninsula -

In 1945 Japan's defeat in World War II ends its occupation of Korea. The peninsula is divided along the 38th parallel between the Soviet-backed regime of Kim Il-Sung in the North and a South under US protection.

In June 1950 North Korea, later assisted by China, invades the South. A coalition led by the United States retakes Seoul. In July 1953, an armistice -- not a full-fledged peace treaty -- is signed and Washington imposes sanctions on Pyongyang.

- Pueblo spy ship crisis -

In January 1968, the spy ship USS Pueblo is captured by North Korea. After 11 months, its 83 crew members are released. According to Pyongyang, the ship violated its territorial waters, a charge the United States denies.

In 1969, North Korea shoots down a US reconnaissance aircraft.

- Contacts -

In June 1994, former US president Jimmy Carter makes an unprecedented visit to North Korea.

In October, three months after the death of Kim Il-Sung and his succession by his son Kim Jong-Il, Pyongyang and Washington sign a bilateral agreement.

North Korea commits to freeze and dismantle its military nuclear program in exchange for the construction of civilian reactors.

In 1999, a year after its first test of a long-range ballistic missile, Kim Jong-Il declares a moratorium on missile tests and Washington eases sanctions.

In October 2000, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright meets Kim Jong-Il in Pyongyang.

- Axis of Evil -

In January 2002, US president George W. Bush labels North Korea, Iran and Iraq an "axis of evil."

In October, Washington accuses Pyongyang of conducting a secret uranium enrichment program in violation of the 1994 agreement.

In August 2004, North Korea declares it is impossible to participate in a new nuclear program with the United States, attacking Bush as a "tyrant" worse than Hitler and a "political imbecile."

In 2006, Pyongyang conducts its first nuclear test.

- Off the US blacklist -

In October 2008, the United States withdraws North Korea from its blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism in return for controls on all of its nuclear installations.

Pyongyang had been on the blacklist since 1988 due to its suspected involvement in the bombing of a South Korean airliner in 1987 that killed 115 people.

- American detainees -

In January 2016, American student Otto Wambier is arrested and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster.

He dies in June 2017, one week after being returned home to the US in a coma. Numerous Americans have been held for years before being repatriated. Three are currently detained there.

- Trump vs Kim -

On January 2, 2017, then US President-elect Donald Trump says North Korea will never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon capable of reaching US territory.

In July, North Korea conducts two intercontinental ballistic missile tests. Kim declares: "The entire US territory is now within our ICBM range."

On August 8, Trump threatens "fire and fury" if Pyongyang continues to threaten the United States.

On August 29, Pyongyang test fires a ballistic missile over Japan. The US president says, "Talking is not the answer," although his defense secretary does not rule out diplomacy.

September 3, North Korea carries out its sixth nuclear test, announcing a "perfect test" of a hydrogen bomb that it claims can be mounted on a missile.

- War of words -

On September 21, Washington unveils tougher sanctions to curb North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile program. The announcement comes on the heels of Trump's maiden speech to the UN General Assembly, in which he nicknames Kim "Rocket Man" and declares him to be on a "suicide mission."

A day later on September 22, Kim brands Trump "mentally deranged" and a "dotard", and warns he will pay dearly for his threats to destroy North Korea. As 2017 closes, Kim boasts his missile arsenal can hit any city on the US mainland.

On January 3, 2018, Trump raises eyebrows as he responds to Kim's New Year warning that he has a "nuclear button" on his desk. "I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!", he writes.

Pyongyang brands his outburst "the spasm of a lunatic" and the "bark of a rabid dog."

On February 25, North Korea slams what Trump describes as the "heaviest sanctions ever" as an "act of war."

Meanwhile, North Korean general Kim Yong Chol arrives in the South for the Winter Olympics closing ceremony -- also attended by Trump's daughter Ivanka -- part of North Korea's Olympic Games charm offensive.

- A historic invitation -

On March 8, 2018, in a remarkable announcement at the White House, South Korean national security advisor Chung Eui-yong says Kim has invited US Trump to meet by May, and will "refrain from any further nuclear or missile tests."

The White House says Trump has accepted the invitation, but does not set a date or locations for the talks, and adds that sanctions against North Korea will stay in place.

Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com

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White House clarifies Trump-North Korea 'call'; As South meets North
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