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Given the backdrop of the historic summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-Un on June 12 in Singapore, North Korea today threatened to cancel the summit due to the on-going military exercises between the United States and South Korea. Given the fact that this summit is an important step towards peace in the Korean peninsula, this might turn out to be a huge setback for the United States and its allies. The US state department is trying to verify what North Korea has said, and is confident that the summit would go on as planned.
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you think that North Korea will cancel the forthcoming summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un?
2. Given North Korea's sensitivities towards joint military exercises between the US and South Korea in the past, do you think that the United States should have postponed the joint military exercises?
3. Do you think the United States believes that its business as usual till the time North Korea agrees to complete de-nuclearization?
19 comments:
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you think that North Korea will cancel the forthcoming summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un?
-i believe that the discussion of a canceled sumit are all talk. we see alot of tension between north korea and the united states in terms of wars and working on peace.however, none of the actions either side has said thed do have been put into effect.
2. Given North Korea's sensitivities towards joint military exercises between the US and South Korea in the past, do you think that the United States should have postponed the joint military exercises?
-i do not believe that the us would postpone their exercises because of how north korea sees them. South Korea is an importaint ally to the us and half the battle of reuniting korea and achieving peace.
There's a old Roman saying: "Si vis pacem, para bellum." It roughly translates as "If you want peace, prepare for war." This is President Trump's entire strategy around Korea, which is reminiscent of President Nixon's Madman Strategy and President Reagan's resume of the arms race; bringing us and the North Koreans to brinkmanship in order to force the hands of Supreme Leader Kim and President Moon towards peace.
In this instance, I think that the military exercises are to prepare the Americans and South Koreans for a contingency in case the deal sours or in case Kim does not keep his word. It's also to keep the heat turned up on Kim, to force him to the bargaining table. President Trump should not postpone or cancel the joint military exercises BECAUSE of the fact that the negotiations are happening. I also think that Kim's threat to 'cancel the summit' is all talk. He's nervous of the American-Korean posturing in the Sea of Japan, and rightly so. But if Kim makes good on his threat, than all President Trump needs to do is to turn the heat all the way to a boil, threatening the use of nuclear force against North Korea. I agree with President Trump that need to come to the table with a position of extreme strength-and this is the best way to do so.
I don't think North Korea will act on their words if the US keeps a low profile and if they stop militarizing with South Korea. I think for now, they should keep everything peaceful in order to make peace with North Korea and keep everyone safe. Negotiations are always a good sign of peace so I think we're on the right track and we should do everything possible to stay at peace.
I agree with Julia, I also don't think North Korea will go through with it if the US doesn't make it high profile. I believe that the more peace there is the safe we are as well as the citizens of north korea
I also think it's imperative that the United States continue the joint military drill with South Korea. Like Granger said, the U.S. needs to maintain their position of strength and complying with North Korea's will only hinders our ability to make the upcoming negotiations effective. As Anthony Ruggiero stated in the article, it is highly likely that North Korea is merely warning to stop the negotiations in order to solicit more concessions. I think the U.S. should run with the status quo for now.
I agree with Hannah in that the United States should continue and not postpone the joint military drill with South Korea despite North Korea's threat. The US and South Korea have been important allies since 1950s and the cold war. I also believe that a lot of what Kim Jung Un and North Korea says are more empty threats than anything, and thus, I doubt that Kim Jung Un will actually cancel the summit.
I think the cancellation of the summit is highly dependant of the statements and actions of both leaders. The behavior of the two and their rhetoric leading up to the date will set the tone of the summit, if there is one to begin with. Since Trump is known to be vocal with his sentiment, I think if he speaks rashly without considering the outcome he could risk the cancellation of the summit. It is important to be cautious with joint military exercises due to the tensions and nuclear threat between the US and North Korea. Trump’s foreign advisors ought to draw up all the possible pros and cons before diving head first into such an agreement. As we’ve seen before Trump is not hesitant to rain down “fire and fury” on North Korea if necessary. I personally do not believe in these violent motives, it seems that no one can convince or even predict Trump’s future plans.
I doubt that Kim Jong-Un would really cancel the peace summit; he doesn't want war anymore than we do, probably less in fact. What he does want, and has always wanted, is for North Korea to be treated as the US's equal. He is basically attaining that wish through the peace summit, where he meets our president in person. Like Granger said, his threat to cancel the summit is likely just bluster.
I do not think that Kim Jong-Un will go through with cancelling the peace summit. It is an important step toward peace and despite the tension that we constantly see between the U.S. and North Korea, I think both sides would generally say they want to avoid war, or more conflict in general. Something like cancelling the peace summit is a really dumb, very easy way of messing up any efforts toward peaceful resolution; likely in an effort to have the U.S. concede more. I don't think the US needed to postpone their drills. If anything, the fact that North Korea responded so poorly to it is proof that these drills are important.
Just as Hannah and Granger have suggested, it is necessary that the US maintain its position of power in order to effectively make negotiations in the future. In complying with North Korea, we'd be losing our ability to negotiate. Therefore, it is in our best interest to not postpone joint military exercises. Even though North Korea, at times, seems to be "all talk," we need to be prepared, maintain our relationship with South Korea, and at least portray ourselves as a powerful nation. On the topic of North Korea being "all talk," I kind of doubt that they would cancel the peace summit, as they also probably recognize the importance of it to some degree.
I think the fact that we are considering the North Korea is not going to withdraw from the summit is a meme. North Korea is essentially a troll. They always do something seemingly good, but in the end they will probably doing something different. We should probably do a joint military exercises with South Korea, in order to establish our strong support for the country.
North Korea would not cancel a summit because a military exercise they always say they'll do something that will threaten us, they just try to get under the US skin that's what they do. I don't think that US would postpone the exercise as we are allies to south Korea and building a strong relationship with them.
3. Do you think the United States believes that its business as usual till the time North Korea agrees to complete de-nuclearization?
Probably I mean US is just trying to be level-headed with a country like North Korea
Kim Jong Un is volatile and unpredictable, so we can't really foresee what he will do with the forthcoming summit. If the U.S. is going for appeasement, they should have postponed or completely cancelled the joint-military exercises altogether. However, I believe that appeasement will not work on North Korea, so it is in U.S.'s best interests to continue military exercises with South Korea as necessary. South Korea has been our ally consistently, so we should stick with them.
Here's the thing about North Korea. Kim Jong Un is only doing all these meetings as a way to appease North Korea's allies. North Korea is most likely being pushed by both its allies and enemies to do something about it's own policies. I believe that these Korean talks will get nowhere as North Korea did these types of diplomatic talks before. North Korea only wants to bring peace by making the other countries submit to its terms. If the countries do not accept these terms, North Korea would probably back out of any upcoming agreements and go back to its threatening stance just like a couple years ago. I think that no matter what the US does, North Korea would just find an excuse to gain an upper hand in this political power struggle.
I don't think that North Korea is going to cancel the peace summit. North Korea is all talk and I don't see them actually cancelling it. I also agree with Hannah and Granger how it is very important for the United States to continue the joint military drill with South Korea because it holds them in a more powerful position that would be lost if they were to stop.
Just like everyone else is saying, I seriously doubt that Kim Jon Un will cancel the Summit. Too much is at stake. Also, I think that the United States should continue to do their joint military exercises, it lets them show that they have control in this situation, and by complying, it could give North Korea an opening to gain unwanted leverage in peace talks.
I doubt that North Korea will actually cancel the peace summit. Also, I agree with the above statements that the joint military drills should be continued becuase it brings peace to both sides, and there would be no threatening stance on North Korea's part. Plus, South Korea have been consistent allies with us for awhile.
I do not think that the North Korean government will cancel the peace summit. Like others said, they are all talk and no do. I do not think that the North Koreans would want to stir up more conflict knowing the strong military power the US has. South Korea has been a key ally to the US so they should continue to help them despite threats from the North.
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