Channel A News Top Ten graphic: Mission Impossible- more difficult than Tom Cruise's mission
https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2018/07/09/kim-jong-un-singapore-summit-north-korea-wins/https:/
The National Review opinion, Kim Wins in Singapore, is a far right manifesto for war with North Korea. It includes just about every criticism levied at Trump's so called surrender to Kim Jong Un at Singapore. The opinion is representative of many alleged "experts" in analysis of North Korea. Many are part of the conservative think tank establishment, the right wing establishment, former CIA officials, etc. However the article in the National Review emanating from the right wing American Enterprise Institute, Kim Wins in Singapore, written by Nicholas Eberstat, had to include the caveat below:
"In fairness, we should acknowledge that the Singapore summit may not be quite as awful for the American side as events to date suggest. It is possible, for example, that the U.S. secured meaningful deliverables that have not been publicly announced. But as my American Enterprise Institute colleague Dan Blumenthal has emphasized, the North Korean media would have to ready Kim’s subjects and elite for any concession or change in policy worthy of the name — and there is, as yet, no evidence of this. "
Actually the Chosun Daily online had an article last week that acknowledged that the North would have to come forward with some reciprocal concessions as a result of the US suspension of military exercises.
Additionally, the game being "played" in the current vernacular is not over. The sanctions are still in effect, and are having a crushing effect on the North's despotic government. The patronage system of the dictatorship has been impaired for several months by the economic impact of the sanctions and the poor harvest last year. Soldiers in North Korea are literally starving. The propaganda and diplomacy of North Korea has been geared toward promises of economic improvement that need to be delivered, soon. There are signs of instability in the current leadership as a result of this and the current policy changes ostensibly undertaken by Kim Jong Un. The issue being discussed in South Korean media is whether or not the alleged resistance in North Korean military circles is the pretext or excuse for delay in denuclearization or has some basis in fact. AEI "expert" Dan Blumenthal mentions the North Korean media do need to ready the subjects and elites to the new policy. Recent changes in North Korean military and civil leadership also suggest the need to consolidate control of the armed forces and the need to shift from the military leg to the economic leg of the "byung jin" policy.
The US can deal with Kim and continue on with this process or deal with some unknown generals in bunkers. Kim desperately needs the economic advances possible with denuclearization to achieve the economic improvements to justify his current rule. It isn't like the military pressure is off North Korea either. The decapitation teams and the targeting and command and control resources necessary for a theater nuclear war are standing by in South Korea and Japan and ready to go on an order from Washington. This was reported on A Channel in South Korea this week.
It's too early to call these negotiations a failure, but if they do fail, John Bolton and his ilk are standing by to unleash war in Asia. The National Review brings up the throw away issue of racist socialism in North Korea to add to its evil dimensions, but the fact is that racism based upon ethnic identity is endemic throughout Asia, as well as the US. Additionally, the concept of "min jok" (people, race, ethnicity) has always been an key element of nationalism, and is the fundamental flaw of many states today, particularly in Europe.
Moon Chung In, the unofficial adviser to the Blue House on North Korean affairs suggests that it is unlikely that Pompeo will return from his visit to Pyongyang without concessions from North Korea.
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