US Pressure Before Follow Up Negotiations with North Korea

Anticipated next steps for the two sides:
North - report nuclear warheads, report ICBMs, cease nuclear activities.

US- Establish liason office, Ease sanctions

I'm not sure how likely the latter is. The establishment of liason offices in an attempt to normalize relations is discussed in depth at 38North.org in a recent June 29 article.

Bolton is up to his tricks. His model for negotiations, which really aren't negotiations at all, is not the model the administration or rather, Pompeo and his people are following. Bolton described a timetable for North Korean performance which Pompeo specifically rejected. He's also expanding the scope of the negotiations by using the term WMD.

Trump said to NK, "take your time." Time is actually against Kim at this point. He's making economic promises domestically that need to be kept. In order to do that, he needs to advance the "denuclearization process" concretely, in order to get some sanctions relief. Without sanctions relief, he will be hurting politically. Official North Korean media are raising expectations of the regime, in terms of economic performance, that can't be met, while the sanctions are still in effect. It appears that Kim is trying to portray himself as an economic development leader if a not a reformer, this will be a difficult sell without sanctions relief. JTBC news reported yesterday that an anonymous (S.Korean) government source told them, that it was the government's assessment that the North would find it difficult to back away from a commitment to denuclearize at this point. A substantial schedule of North South joint economic planning events is underway.

This negotiating process is hanging in the balance right now.

While US Ambassador Sang Kim is in S.Korea now, probably getting ready to meet with working level negotiators from North Korea, Sen. Graham is issuing death threats against Kim Jong Un. (Arirang English news reported that Sang Kim met Choi Son Hee the North Korea rep for the nuclear talks at the working level in Panmunjeom July 1.)

A nuclear program decades in the making cannot change much in three weeks. Many experts agree, that North Korean nuclear armed ICBMs are not perfected in terms of reaching the US, and that the suspension of nuclear tests and missile tests was very timely.

Alarmist articles in the US mainstream press, implicitly or explicitly describing the summit as a failure are part of the framing of the expected meeting of Pompeo with North Korean negotiators to pressure Kim to make substantial concessions. That's giving the tone of these recent articles the best possible interpretation.

미국의 압박 American pressure in advance of the anticipated negotiations this week is how the South Korean media are describing this.