There is a report that Trump sent his own letter to Kim Aug 12 asking Kim to take measures give up his nuclear warheads, first. It set aside those aspects of the North Korean position reflected in the Singapore declaration discussed in the links below. The report came from Channel A News Top Ten earlier today. Pompeo was reportedly, according to another account trying to work something around the dispute with North Korea, when Trump sent his letter to Kim, via Panmunjum. According to the Channel A "exclusive" report, it was Trump's letter which prompted the "hostile" response from Kim Yong Chol, the Vice Chairman. The presence of the diplomatic working group for the US at the White House meeting, when the "hostile letter" was discussed, during which the President cancelled Pompeo's mission to Pyongyang suggests that the return letter may have come back the same route.
An analysis of the current deadlock with North Korea was published in the Atlantic.com recently based upon a discussion with South Korea's top policy analyst. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/08/north-korea-war-declaration/568603/
I wrote about the so called "hostile letter" here yesterday.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/113322017
It may be that Pompeo is getting the Tillerson treatment at this point. The US ambassador to Seoul is a career military person, the recent commander of PACOM, Admiral Harry Harris. Initially, there was consternation with respect to the suspension of the joint US South Korean exercises in the US military. Secretary of Defense Mattis follows up with the not so veiled threat to resume joint exercises with South Korea saying he'll wait for the diplomats to play their role and see what happens. From the news in South Korea this morning, and their response, I doubt if they were consulted about this. While the MSM discusses Mattis' remarks in terms of large military exercises next year, the large Vigilant Ace joint exercise in South Korea normally takes place in the first fiscal quarter, namely in the fall. It last took place in December 2017.
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