The more likely conclusion to the so-called nuclear summit will be photo-ops promoting Sheldon Adelman’s hotel and some handwaving that will result in Trump going to Pyongyang for his military parade and a ribbon cutting at some US-fast food franchise.
A formal declaration of the end of the Korean War will be the News stunt that may emerge amidst “continuing discussions”. Not including the PRC in those festivities will be amusing in that context, and most people have forgotten that the War never ended.
Kim Yong Chol, Mike Pompeo dine together ahead of talks (They ate American beef)
Despite a dearth of details from the State Department on Pompeo’s schedule and goals this week, there are weighty issues to sort through. Pompeo has been an advocate for a Trump-Kim meeting, convinced after his two encounters with the North Korean leader that the regime was genuinely ready to consider dismantling its nuclear program.
Yet after North Korea agreed to the summit, those intentions were thrown into doubt when Pyongyang rejected calls from U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton to follow the so-called Libya model of giving up its nuclear weapons quickly before getting anything in return.
“I can say that the differences in stances between North Korea and the U.S. remain quite significant,” South Korea Unification Minister Cho Myoung Gyon said Thursday, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. “It will not be easy to narrow the gap and find common ground, but I think it would not be impossible.”
Nonetheless, in a surprise meeting earlier this week, Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in affirmed their shared goal of achieving complete dismantlement of the North’s nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs, according to a statement.
The State Department official told reporters that North Korea must make clear what it’s willing to do before Trump agrees to the summit. The U.S. is demanding what the administration calls “complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization,” or CVID, from North Korea.
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"Everybody knows they are not going to denuclearize," one of the officials said.
However, the Kim regime is willing to offer a number of concessions, including opening a hamburger franchise in Pyongyang, according to the CIA report.
Koryo burger: "worst food ever"?
Air Koryo is known for its perennial features: its aging Russian-made planes, its drab interiors, its propensity to blare militaristic propaganda mid-flight.
Sometimes described with phrases such as "the worst thing I've ever eaten" by Western social media users, the in-flight burger offered on Air Koryo, North Korea's national airline, has gained a cult following.
Simon: "The only time I saw someone be sick on a plane was on an Air Koryo flight. But I think it was down to the passenger not having flown before, rather than because they ate a Koryo burger.
"Having said that, it's not very nice and it's not clear what kind of meat it is. Probably not dog. Nobody flies Air Koryo for the food, but I've probably eaten about 30 of them so far, and only when very hungry.
"Most North Koreans have never flown, and all who have flown have travelled on Air Koryo. The vegetarian option on the airline is 'don't eat the burger.'"
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"There are burger restaurants, too. They do have market forces in Pyongyang—one particular burger place opened once but no one ever went there, so it closed. It's easy for people to see everything done in North Korea as everything 'done by' North Korea. When someone opens a burger restaurant, it's always, 'Kim Jong-Un has opened a burger restaurant,' but they are opened by business people motivated by profit.
"At these 'fast' food places, the food isn't ready when you go in; they have racks behind the servers but never anything on them. A long-lasting meal is normal in North Korea and most Pyongyang people have a two-hour lunch break.
"You can find burgers all over Pyongyang now. If you had money, you could open up pretty much anything in the city, although you probably couldn't open a place called something like Uncle Sam's All-American Steak House. That might be a step too far."
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