North Korea threatens to withdraw from summit with Trump

[Bengalzona]

(05-15-2018, 10:31 PM)Dill Wrote: Well, we are still a month away from the summit, preparing for it with a hollowed out state department.

So you might want to save your correction.

If past is prologue, we should see some more ups and downs before any final cancellation.  Any more hostages to release?

In my view, busting the Iran Deal has shifted the ground under the NK negotiations, and not in favor of the US.
But I am not sure this cancellation is a sign of that yet. The anger over such a massive military exercise is understandable. Imagine if North Korea staged an exercise with battle ships and 70 fighter jets 12 miles off the coast of California.

Yes. North Korea is famous for dangling carrots, then backing away. This has bedeviled many administrations in the past.

I agree about the the Iran Deal influencing things here. After all, it is believed Iran bought much of their equipment for their centrifuge operations from North Korea. While I'm sure they are not BFF's, they do have a relationship and (sometimes?) a common enemy. But more than that, we had more clout on non-proliferation negotiations when Iran was locked into a deal and not... er... proliferating.

Trump's timing on breaking the Iran deal is just bizarre to me. Why not wait to do that until after a deal with North Korea is reached (if one is). My only thought is that it is linked to Israel and growing Iranian influence in Syria, with the turn in that civil war against the opposition.

But I believe that this administration will bend over (perhaps literally) to get a deal down with North Korea. I believe Trump wants and needs a big foreign policy trophy to take home and show the voters for the upcoming elections. Outside of passing the tax cut bill (which many question anyway), what else has the admin and Congress done?