Thursday, June 21, 2018

Destruction of N. Korean nuclear sites

Reported in April, site collapse due to nuclear testing is apparently why N. Korea stopped the nuke testing, and, there has been concern about radioactive contamination.

But it was spun into them agreeing to back down. So, don't brag too much about Trump's deal-making because had this not happened, it would likely still be an issue.  

With Kim at a point of no further options, he had no choice but to reach an agreement with Trump. Though Trump gets credit for applying pressure as opposed to ignoring, this is the core reason for his stopping the testing.

However, in a recent rally, Trump seemed to spin his Singapore summit as a success, as if the N. Koreans blew up their nuclear testing sites as a result of the summit, after the fact, when in fact the blowing of the sites was the result of nuclear testing prior to the summit. Am I correct?

So, the reason this is important is that Kim didn't have a change of intentions. He ran out of nuclear options. But, he still has cyberwarfare. So, the N. Korean threat is likely lessened in terms of nuclear, but not over.

https://www.ft.com/content/52ad351c-48e5-11e8-8ee8-cae73aab7ccb