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DonViejo

(60,536 posts)
Fri Mar 16, 2018, 11:08 AM Mar 2018

Is anyone sure North Korea actually invited Trump? By Jennifer Rubin

By Jennifer Rubin March 16 at 10:30 AM

The Trump administration, to our knowledge, has yet to hear from North Korea that it actually wants a meeting between Kim Jong Un and President Trump. All we have is a message conveyed through South Korea, which, to be blunt, is not always the most reliable messenger.

CNN reports:

Adm. Harry Harris, who oversees US military operations in the Indo-Pacific, said Thursday that “we can’t be overly optimistic on outcomes” when it comes to the recently announced summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“As we go into this, I think we can’t be overly optimistic on outcomes. We’ll just have to see where it goes if and when we have the summit,” Harris told a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, adding that he believed the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the peninsula would remain the goal of the talks.


Unlike the White House, Harris seems to understand that things are not always as they appear when it comes to Pyongyang, especially if we are getting a critical message third-hand from South Korea, which historically has been irrationally exuberant about the potential for diplomacy with North Korea.

Zhiqun Zhu from Bucknell University writes that “few have figured out why so far neither the North Korean government nor Kim himself has stepped forward to confirm (or deny) the planned meeting. This is both interesting and puzzling.” Perhaps, he says, “Kim Jong-un was caught off-guard by Trump’s impulsive decision to meet.” Maybe the invitation was in the vein of “Let’s have lunch sometime.” He explains:

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/03/16/is-anyone-sure-north-korea-actually-invited-trump/?utm_term=.0f8715b44c23
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Is anyone sure North Korea actually invited Trump? By Jennifer Rubin (Original Post) DonViejo Mar 2018 OP
Lost in Translation Perhaps? Stallion Mar 2018 #1
So tRump may declare NK backing down from the non existent invite is an insult and invade NK? Canoe52 Mar 2018 #2

Canoe52

(2,944 posts)
2. So tRump may declare NK backing down from the non existent invite is an insult and invade NK?
Fri Mar 16, 2018, 11:24 AM
Mar 2018

Wouldn’t put it past him.

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