Joe Biden wouldn't meet Kim Jong Un without preconditions.

This is the story on the VOA website reported from Seoul:

Biden: No Meeting With Kim Jong Un Absent Preconditions
By William Gallo
January 15, 2020 04:16 AM

SEOUL - Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden says he would not meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without preconditions. It is the latest evidence Biden would overturn parts of U.S. President Donald Trump’s outreach to Pyongyang.

"Not now, I wouldn’t meet without any preconditions," Biden said Tuesday during a Democratic debate in the midwestern state of Iowa. "Look, we gave him everything he’s looking for. The president showed up, met with him, gave him legitimacy, weakened the sanctions we have against him."

https://www.voanews.com/usa/biden-no-meeting-kim-jong-un-absent-preconditions

Gallo is the VOA editor in Seoul. He continues to surprise me, or I wouldn't bother posting a VOA article. I pretty much watch VOA Korea podcasts every day which are standard anti North Korean propaganda one would expect. The daily podcasts are in Korean, of course, because that's the target audience. VOA's Washington Talk program, which is posted on youtube on Saturdays, tends to be more in depth, and the speakers are US "experts," on Korean affairs, or at least experienced Korea hands. Their discussion in English is translated into Korean subtitles. I've been watching these programs and others regularly for three years. Occasionally, they get a dissenting view on there, but usually there is a consensus that everything is either the fault of Chairman Kim, or a mistake by President Moon Jae-in. The idea that Moon Jae-in, the president of South Korea would know more about Korean affairs than an American is never considered. Apologia for Trump's approach are sometimes offered when he is so far off base something has to be said, but the usual practice concerning US missteps, miscalculations and blunders is to omit them or deny their existence.

To his credit, Mr. Gallo's written material here concerning Mr. Biden's view on North Korean negotiations exposes the former Vice President's incompetence. The view that Chairman Kim has been granted "legitimacy" by Trump's approach, summits, letters, etc., is amateur diplomatic claptrap, put out by persons who have nothing more substantial to say concerning the deadlocked negotiations. The notion that Trump has weakened sanctions is absurdly incorrect. Tim Shorrock, an expert commentator and journalist concerning Korean affairs, has written how sad it is, that Democrats have this proclivity to attack Trump's haphazard approach from the right. Trump's impulsive approach includes threats of war, inappropriate gushing about his great personal relationship with Kim Jong-un, and infinite faith in his top down approach. Increased calls for sanctions and demands for North Korean capitulation, alternate with facile and vague promises of a "bright future", and reassurances that the US is "not a threat." Trump evidently feels this inconsistent and hostile approach is concealed by his personal charm and deft negotiating skills. One need only observe the current Iran debacle he and his cabinet have engineered since the withdrawal from the JCPOA. All this however does not absolve Mr. Biden's ignorant and factually incorrect statement.

Gallo's subtlety is that he let's Mr. Biden's statement speak for itself. The statement reveals Mr. Biden has no insight into the Northeast Asian political dilemma, and at the same time has a factually mistaken comprehension of the sanctions regime in effect against North Korea. One can see for themselves if they are familiar with the facts and have followed the negotiations, that Mr. Biden is entirely lacking in the judgement and insight that he purportedly claims to have as a result of his "extensive" foreign policy experience. So the presumptive emperor in waiting as it were, has no clothes, and Mr. Gallo, is a credit to VOA for not attempting to conceal the embarrassing truth.