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President Trump, Kim Jong Un, and Otto Warmbier: Separating Facts From Rumors

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President Trump is taking a lot of heat from across the political spectrum after telling the media Thursday in Vietnam that he believed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un when the dictator claimed he was not aware of mistreatment of Otto Warmbier. Otto Warmbier was an American college student who was imprisoned in North Korea after Pyongyang authorities convicted him of stealing a propaganda poster from the hotel where he was staying. He was later sentenced, absurdly, to 15 years in jail and hard labor for his “crime.” He died shortly after being released to the United States.

“He felt badly about it. He felt very badly,” President Trump said of Kim Jong Un at a news conference in Hanoi Thursday. “He tells me that he didn’t know about it, and I will take him at his word,” he added.

“I did speak about it, but I don’t believe he would have allowed that to happen,” the president said of Warmbier’s death. “It just wasn’t to his advantage to allow that to happen.”

Immediately following the president’s comments, media networks, television personalities, members of Congress, and others castigated the president for taking Kim Jong Un at his word.

The Otto Warmbier case is more complicated than many have been led to believe. In fact, evidence is still thin that North Korea “brutally tortured” the American college student, a claim that is being parroted in the media nonstop.

The University of Virginia student made a youthful mistake, and that one silly mistake had tragic and disastrous repercussions. Almost immediately after he was sentenced, media reports began to emerge that Warmbier’s medical condition was rapidly deteriorating. News networks began to report that North Korea was torturing Warmbier. “A senior American official has said the United States obtained intelligence reports that he had been repeatedly beaten,” The New York Times reported. After almost a year and a half in a North Korean prison, he was later released to the United States, where he died shortly thereafter.

Warmbier was undoubtedly wrongfully imprisoned by the Pyongyang regime. Certainly, it is a strong argument that North Korea, through its gross negligence and wrongful imprisonment, is responsible for his death. However, there remains no firm evidence that Warmbier was tortured or that North Korean officials such as Kim Jong Un were responsible for his declining health while imprisoned.

In the GQ report The Untold Story of Otto Warmbier, American Hostage, by journalist Doug Bock Clark, it becomes clear that the jury is still very much out on what caused Warmbier’s rapid decline in health and tragic death.

“Otto would never recover to tell his side of the story. And despite exhaustive examinations by doctors, no definitive medical evidence explaining how his injury came to be would ever emerge,” Clark writes.

The comprehensive piece on the tragic saga shows that medical examiners and coroners did not find firm evidence of torture and could not come to a conclusion about Warmbier’s injuries.

“Non-invasive scans found no hairline bone fractures or other evidence of prior trauma,” the piece notes, adding that “three other individuals who had close contact with Otto on his return also did not notice any physical signs consistent with torture.”

Moreover, North Korea experts and senior government officials interviewed for the piece expressed doubt about the claims sourced to U.S. intelligence agencies that the regime tortured him.

“In general, the intel reports were wrong, as the medical examinations have shown. They were apparently not even correct about where Otto was or when he was beaten,” a senior U.S. official told GQ. “Likely, the reports were just hearsay. Someone heard third- or fourth-hand that Otto was sick, and that person decided he was beaten. The North Koreans have never tortured a white guy physically. Never.”

President Trump’s comments about the Otto Warmbier tragedy need to be understood in the context of what evidence we have. We still do not know what led to his devastating and untimely death, but we don’t have evidence that Kim Jong Un had a personal hand in his death. Of course, that does not excuse Kim Jong Un’s horrific treatment of his own people or North Korea’s wrongful imprisonment of Otto Warmbier. (For more from the author of “President Trump, Kim Jong Un, and Otto Warmbier: Separating Facts From Rumors” please click HERE)

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After Trump’s Walkout, What Comes Next in the U.S.-North Korea Nuclear Negotiations?

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There was no grand bargain in Hanoi between President Trump and Kim Jong-un at the second summit between the two leaders. After meeting and taking some questions from reporters in which both were optimistic (Trump was more guarded about what would be accomplished at this summit), they didn’t even go through with a planned lunch. While disappointing for some hoping for concessions from Trump and Kim that would yield at the minimum “confidence building” measures, the news of a no-deal outcome came to me as a relief. Here’s why. . .

President Trump has already been over-the-top generous towards Kim and owes him exactly nothing. The first summit in Singapore was a PR victory for Kim, who is known internationally for what he is: a cruel, ruthless dictator who sits atop a strange (though don’t confuse it for irrational) brand of Communist authoritarianism and deserves global isolation. The state’s official ideology is juche, which infuses racism and dynastic rule and has Communist influence. It’s dangerous and still deserves global isolation.

But Trump, committed to decreasing the hostility of the two countries in the hopes of making progress on the issue peacefully, has taken an unprecedented approach: give Kim the flattery and photo opps not as a reward for disarmament, but instead as an inducement for more. Trump is trying to get the young Kim drunk on praise and fame with the promise that more will follow in greater degrees, if only Kim will accept the deal of all deals with President Trump and choose economic prosperity in exchange for his nuclear missile program.

So far, Kim has rebuffed this offer. According to the president, in Hanoi, Kim demanded total sanctions relief upfront in exchange for only minimal steps towards denuclearization. It is an absurd demand and if those disappointed with the results of the summit want someone to blame, the blame rests with Kim Jong-un and him alone. . .

One, every missile and nuclear weapon that was in North Korea at the time of the Singapore Summit is still there. And just because the regime has stopped testing missiles doesn’t mean it has stopped producing them or producing nuclear (and chemical and biological) weapons. In fact, we have reason to believe the regime is doing just that. Moreover, there are reports that indicate North Korea continues to proliferate weapons outside its borders including chemical weapons technology to Assad in Syria. Recall, North Korea and Iran have a history of cooperation. (Read more from “After Trump’s Walkout, What Comes Next in the U.S.-North Korea Nuclear Negotiations?” HERE)

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Trump Conveys ‘Great Respect’ for Kim, as North Korean Leader Compares Scene to ‘Fantasy Movie’

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Long-awaited nuclear negotiations between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were underway in Vietnam on Thursday morning, after a whirlwind day on Capitol Hill that threatened to steal the spotlight from the second historic summit between the two leaders.

“I just want to say: I have great respect for Chairman Kim, and I have great respect for his country,” Trump told reporters as he sat at a table across from Kim in Hanoi. “And I believe it will be something — hard to compete with for other countries. It has such potential.” . . .

Kim, for his part, said the “whole world” was watching the talks and suggested that, for some, the image of the two “sitting side by side” must resemble “a fantasy movie.”

Trump added that while reaching a lasting agreement was critical, “speed is not important.” The two leaders then retired to begin their negotiations privately, but were photographed shortly afterwards walking on the Metropole hotel’s pool patio, where they were joined by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean official Kim Yong Chol.

Trump, Kim and their aides were in Hanoi after long journeys by plane, train and automobile — Trump on Air Force One, Kim in an armored railcar and limousine — for two days of talks addressing perhaps the world’s biggest security challenge: Kim’s nuclear program, which stands on the verge of realistically threatening targets around the planet. (Read more from “Trump Conveys ‘Great Respect’ for Kim, as North Korean Leader Compares Scene to ‘Fantasy Movie'” HERE)

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Kim Jong Un Says He’s Open to Reunion With Trump, but There’s a Catch

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Tuesday that he is prepared to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at any time, but warned that he would pursue an alternative course if Washington kept up sanctions on Pyongyang.

In his closely watched New Year’s address, Kim said he was ready to pursue an outcome that would be “welcomed by the international community.” However, he said the North will be forced to take a different path if the United States “continues to break its promises and misjudges our patience by unilaterally demanding certain things and pushes ahead with sanctions and pressure.”

Kim also said the U.S. should continue its halt to joint military exercises with South Korea and not deploy strategic military assets to the South. He also made a nationalistic call urging for stronger inter-Korean cooperation and said the North is ready to resume operations at a jointly run factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong and restart South Korean tours to the North’s Diamond Mountain resort. Neither of those is possible for South Korea unless sanctions are removed.

Nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled for months as they struggle with the sequencing of North Korea’s disarmament and the removal of U.S.-led sanctions against the North. Some analysts say North Korea has been trying to drive a wedge between Washington and Seoul while putting the larger burden of action on the United States. Pyongyang over the past months has accused Washington of failing to take corresponding measures following the North’s unilateral dismantlement of a nuclear testing ground and suspension of nuclear and long-range missile tests.

North Korea also has bristled at U.S. demands to provide a detailed account of nuclear and missile facilities that would be inspected and dismantled under a potential deal. (Read more from “Kim Jong Un Says He’s Open to Reunion With Trump, but There’s a Catch” HERE)

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North Korea Found Liable for Torturing Otto Warmbier to Death

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By Townhall. Federal Judge Beryl Howell ruled Monday afternoon the North Korean regime must pay $501 million to the parents of Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old American student who was tortured to death after being taken hostage in the country three years ago.

“North Korea is liable for the torture, hostage taking, and extrajudicial killing of Otto Warmbier, and the injuries to his mother and father, Fred and Cindy Warmbier,” the ruling states.

Warmbier was returned to the United States in June of 2017. He arrived in a coma and extremely poor health. Shortly afterward, he died. His parents described his treatment as heinous and inhumane.

(Read more from “North Korea Found Liable for Torturing Otto Warmbier to Death” HERE)

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Otto Warmbier’s Parents Confirm North Korea Absolutely Tortured Their Son: ‘They Destroyed Him’

By Townhall. . . .During an interview with Fox and Friends Tuesday morning, Fred and Cindy Warmbier explained in detail how Otto was brought home and what they experienced. They walked onto a plane to find their son deaf, blind, on a feeding tube and violently convulsing.

“When we got halfway up the steps we heard this howling, involuntary, inhuman sound,” Fred said. “It looked like someone had taken a pair of pliers and rearranged his bottom teeth.”

“He had a large scar on his right foot. North Korea is not a victim. They are terrorists,” he continued. “They purposely injured Otto.”

“We see North Korea claiming to be a victim and the world is picking on them, and we’re here to tell you North Korea is not a victim,” Fred said. “They are terrorists. They kidnapped Otto. They tortured him. They intentionally injured him.” (Read more from “Otto Warmbier’s Parents Confirm North Korea Absolutely Tortured Their Son: ‘They Destroyed Him'” HERE)

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North Korea Issues Scary Statement About U.S. Sanctions

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. . .On Dec. 10, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that it would be placing sanctions on three high-ranking North Korean officials “in response to the North Korean regime’s ongoing and serious human rights abuses and censorship.” These officials included Minister of State Security Jong Kyong Thaek, Director of the OGD (North Korea’s censorship department) Choe Ryong Hae, and Director of the PAD (the Propaganda and Agitation Department) Pak Kwang Ho.

“Today’s actions shine a spotlight on North Korea’s reprehensible treatment of those in North Korea, and serve as a reminder of North Korea’s brutal treatment of U.S. citizen Otto Warmbier, who passed away 18 months ago,” the statement said. Warmbier, 22, was an American college student who died after being held in North Korean custody. . .

An editorial by the North Korean government in the state-run news service KCNA threatened that “DPRK-US relations back to the status of last year which was marked by exchanges of fire.” It also said that “added sanctions pressure will block the path to denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula forever – a result desired by no one.” The editorial also claimed that the sanctions were put into place to punish North Korea for a “non-existent ‘human rights issue.'” . . .

While North Korea may blame these recent sanctions for a breakdown in progress, satellite evidence suggests that they had never been fully committed to denuclearization. Several separate reports, from multiple news agencies as well as the United Nations, have suggested that North Korea has been continuing to run and actively improving its nuclear test sites. (Read more from “North Korea Issues Scary Statement About U.S. Sanctions” HERE)

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North Korea Just Released Another American Citizen

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The State Department announced Friday afternoon North Korea has released an American citizen.

“The United States appreciates the cooperation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the embassy of Sweden in facilitating the release of an American citizen,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released in a statement. “The United States is grateful for the sustained support of Sweden, our protecting power in North Korea, for its advocacy on behalf of American citizens. The safety and well-being of Americans remains one of the highest priorities of the Trump Administration.” . . .

“Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo’s meeting with officials from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, scheduled for this week in New York, will now take place at a later date,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert released in a statement last week. “We will reconvene when our respective schedules permit. Ongoing conversations continue to take place. The United States remains focused on fulfilling the commitments agreed to by President Trump and Chairman Kim at the Singapore Summit in June.” (Read more from “North Korea Just Released Another American Citizen” HERE)

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Trump Sees Progress on Nukes, Plans Second Summit With Kim to Put North Korea on Path to Prosperity

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By Washington Times. President Trump on Wednesday teed up another summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, claiming major progress toward denuclearization and lining up countries to help usher in an economic renaissance in the reclusive communist state.

The offer of economic prosperity that would go far beyond merely lifting sanctions on Pyongyang was the crux of Mr. Trump’s pitch for Mr. Kim to give up nuclear weapons when they met at a summit June 12 in Singapore.

Mr. Trump said Wednesday that he would meet again with Mr. Kim in the “very near future” and promised an announcement soon of the time and place for the summit.

The leaders could meet as soon as next month but more likely after that, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on “CBS This Morning.”

Mr. Trump has been increasingly upbeat about diplomacy with North Korea, with the denuclearization deal back on track after some rough months following the Singapore summit. (Read more from “Trump Sees Progress on Nukes, Plans Second Summit With Kim to Put North Korea on Path to Prosperity” HERE)

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U.S. Seeks to Keep North Korea Sanctions Despite Progress

By Washington Post. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that the world stands at the “dawn of a new day” in relations with North Korea but that international sanctions must remain in place and vigorously enforced if diplomatic efforts to get the country to denuclearize are to succeed — a position that faces resistance from China and Russia.

Chairing a special session of the U.N. Security Council, Pompeo said President Donald Trump’s diplomatic breakthrough with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has led to a point where the nuclear threat from the country can be resolved. But the “unprecedented diplomatic opening” would close unless the pressure from sanctions is kept up.

“Until the final denuclearization of the DPRK is achieved and fully verified, it is our solemn collective responsibility to fully implement all U.N. Security Council resolutions pertaining to North Korea,” he said, using the initials for the country’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. (Read more from “U.S. Seeks to Keep North Korea Sanctions Despite Progress” HERE)

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North Korea Committed to Denuclearize by the End of Trump’s Term

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North Korea will complete its journey along the rocky road to denuclearization by the end of President Donald Trump’s current term in office, according to a South Korean official.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet with South Korean President Moon Jae-in Sept. 18-20 to discuss “practical measures” toward denuclearization, Moon’s national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, said Thursday, according to Reuters.

Moon’s trip to Pyongyang will be the first visit of a South Korean leader to the capital of North Korea since 2007. It will also be the third meeting of the year between Moon and Kim.

Chung met with Kim on Wednesday and said the North Korean leader indicated his faith in Trump was “unchanged.”

“This trust, despite some difficulties surfaced during the negotiation process between the U.S. and the North, will continue,” Chung said, according to CNN.

North Korean state media said Kim “remains unchanged in his determination to strive hard to bring the fellow countrymen better results at an early date.”

“Noting that it is our fixed stand and his (Kim’s) will to completely remove the danger of armed conflict and horror of war from the Korean peninsula and turn it into the cradle of peace without nuclear weapons and free from nuclear threat, he said that the north and the south should further their efforts to realize the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” North Korea’s news agency said.

Kim also set the goal of achieving denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and overhauling U.S. relations by the time Trump’s current term ends, Chung said.

Chung said North Korea “was willing to take more active measures toward denuclearization if his advance steps could be met with matching measures (from the U.S.).”

“He particularly emphasized that he has never said anything negative about President Trump,” Chung said.

Trump responded to the comments with a tweet.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo conceded getting the concepts of an alliance down on paper remains daunting.

“The work of convincing Chairman Kim to make this strategic shift that we’ve talked about for a brighter future for the people of North Korea continues,” Pompeo said, according to The Daily Caller.

“It is the case that there is still an enormous amount of work to do,” he added. (For more from the author of “North Korea Committed to Denuclearize by the End of Trump’s Term” please click HERE)

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Iran, N. Korea Grow Stockpile of Ballistic Missiles Capable of Striking U.S. Troops, Allies, Israel

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Iran and North Korea are growing their stockpile of ballistic missiles, including long-range missiles capable of striking U.S. assets, American allies, and even the continental United States, according to new congressional reports that shine a light on efforts by these rogue nations to advance their military capabilities.

North Korea continues to aid Iran with its advanced ballistic missiles program in defiance of international regulations barring such activity, according to the reports, issued by the Congressional Research Service. This includes an extensive proliferation network and multiple facilities dedicated to constructing short-range, medium-range, and long-range ballistic missiles.

Iran’s missiles, many of which are modeled off North Korean technology, are advanced enough to strike targets throughout the Middle East, including Israel, stoking fears that the next regional war—which many say is imminent—could present Iran an opportunity to show off its newest missile technology.

U.S. officials familiar with the Iranian and North Korean missile programs told the Washington Free Beacon that much of the recent technological progress by these rogue nations is the result of the Obama administration’s efforts to relax international regulations on such activity as part of the landmark nuclear agreement.

In the time since that agreement was reached, Iran has taken significant steps toward building, testing, and improving its ballistic missile technology, including long-range missiles that have been tested under cover of Tehran’s space program. (Read more from “Iran, N. Korea Grow Stockpile of Ballistic Missiles Capable of Striking U.S. Troops, Allies, Israel” HERE)

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