(Zero Hedge)—During his first term in the White House, President-elect Donald Trump held three meetings with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. The First was in Hanoi, followed by a highly ‘controversial’ meeting at the Korean border, which was the first time in history that a sitting American president had stepped foot into the North Korean side of the border.
There was talk at the time of the two leaders falling “in love”—however, the past couple years of Biden’s Pentagon parking a nuclear submarine at a South Korean port has done much to undo these good will displays. Washington has requested that Pyongyang abandon its nuclear weapons development, while Kim has demanded nothing less than full sanctions relief.
What will the policy be under the second Trump White House?
“US president-elect Donald Trump’s team is discussing pursuing direct talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, hoping a fresh diplomatic push can lower the risks of armed conflict, according to two people familiar with the matter,” South China Morning Post and Reuters report Tuesday.
While Trump’s transition team has said nothing official on the issue as yet, insider sources say a return to direct diplomacy is hopeful:
Several in Trump’s team now see a direct approach from Trump, to build on a relationship that already exists, as most likely to break the ice with Kim, years after the two traded insults and what Trump called “beautiful” letters in an unprecedented diplomatic effort during his first term in office, the people said.
As for the North Korean side, it doesn’t seem in any hurry, or at least is building leverage in anticipation of potential near-future Trump overtures.
The Wall Street Journal summarized Kim’s reaction as of last week as follows:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared to rebuff the prospect of reviving his nuclear diplomacy with President-elect Donald Trump, according to his first public remarks about disarmament talks since the election.
North Korea’s state media reported Friday that the 40-year-old dictator called the U.S. a superpower that operated by force rather than a will to coexist and belittled the value that previous talks had for his cash-strapped regime.
Kim was quoted in a speech days ago as saying, “We have already explored every possible avenue in negotiating with the US.”
He cited Washington’s “unchanging aggressive and hostile policy” toward North Korea, which has included stepped-up joint US-South Korean military exercises on the peninsula.
Earlier on the Trump campaign trail…
🤣🤣🤣 Trump says Kim Jong-un probably misses him pic.twitter.com/iGJ10hlbAK
— Kolja Barghoorn (@MitAktien) July 21, 2024
It’s possible that if Trump is able to oversee peace in Ukraine, which he is pledging to begin in earnest from day one of entering the Oval Office, things could stabilize with US-North Korea relations as well.
But looming large as a complicating factor is North Korea’s sending some 10,000 of its troops to Russia, where they are reportedly assisting Moscow forces in pushing back Ukraine’s occupation of the southern Kursk region. Kiev has used this to decry the ‘internationalization’ of the war, despite NATO having injected billions of dollars and heavy weaponry on Ukraine’s side.
Trump Denies “Fake News” Report on Changes to Economic Plans
by Publius
President-elect Donald Trump has refuted a Washington Post report suggesting his aides were considering a more restrained tariff policy. The report claimed that Trump’s transition team was contemplating a tariff plan that would be less extensive than his campaign promises, targeting only imports deemed critical to national or economic security….
Gold Breaks Out With Central Bank Surge and Interest Rate Drops Expected
by Sponsored Post
Precious metals are seeing gains once again following the post-election dip, just as many economists had expected. Even China, which had been holding back for five months, returned to purchasing massive quantities of gold. “Falling U.S. interest rates and ongoing solid demand from central banks are supporting the gold price,”…
JPMorgan: “Debasement Trade” Into Bitcoin and Gold Is Here to Stay
by Tyler Durden, Zero Hedge
(Zero Hedge)—The so-called “debasement trade” into gold and Bitcoin is “here to stay” as investors brace for persistent geopolitical uncertainty, according to a Jan. 3 research note by JPMorgan shared with CoinTelegraph. Gold and BTC “appear to have become more important components of investors’ portfolios structurally” as they increasingly seek to…
Hochul to Increase Payments to a Program That Serves Illegals
by Independent Sentinel
Welfare champion Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York has proposed a huge expansion of the state’s child tax credit. People here illegally can collect. New York is a one party state and Hochul runs it like a dictator. Hochul wants taxpayers to pay for an increase in the maximum credit…
More Details Emerge Regarding the Plan to Kill a Supreme Court Justice
by Zachary Stieber, The Epoch Times
(The Epoch Times)—A California man allegedly told authorities that he flew to the East Coast to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, according to newly filed court documents. Nicholas Roske flew across the country from California to Virginia on June 7, 2022, landing just before midnight. He got into a…
Kevin O’Leary Wants to Save TikTok by Buying It and Rewriting Its Algorithm
by The Blaze
“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary said that he was working on a deal to save the popular TikTok social media platform from being banned in the U.S. over privacy concerns. Republican lawmakers have banned TikTok from being used by state and federal employees after numerous reports that the platform collects…
AI Chatbots Credited With Surge in US Holiday Sales
by Valuetainment
AI-powered tools, particularly chatbots, significantly boosted online holiday sales in the US to $282 billion in 2024, a nearly 4% increase from the previous year, according to Salesforce. Globally, online sales reached $229 billion, up from $199 billion in 2023, as retailers utilized targeted promotions and personalized recommendations to attract…
Dana White Has Joined Meta’s Board of Directors
by Cactus Williams, Discern Report
UFC CEO and long-time friend of Donald Trump, Dana White, has joined Meta’s board of directors alongside Charlie Songhurst and John Elkann. This is just the latest in a series of decisions Meta has made following Trump’s historic electoral victory which seemed to be aimed at cozying up to the…
The Biggest Sale on Beef With 25-Year Shelf-Life EVER
by Sponsored Post
Let’s cut to the chase. Prepper All-Naturals is offering an unprecedented 40% off for its “Beef Steak” survival bags with promo code “steak40”. With a 25-year shelf life and a single ingredient (beef, of course), our most popular product is available for a very limited time with the biggest discount…
McDonald’s to Abandon Diversity ‘Goals’ in Hiring, to Stop Participating in Woke Non-Profit’s ‘Corporate Equality Index’
by The Post Millennial
Filmmaker and cultural commentator Robby Starbuck has gained another scalp in his effort to flip US corporations away from woke agendas focused on DEI, diversity, equity and inclusion. “BIG news,” Starbuck reported on X. “McDonald’s is ending a number of woke DEI policies today. Now let me tell you what’s…
