Pyongyang has expressed its desire to still hold a dialogue despite the fact that US President Donald Trump cancelled the US-North Korea summit. DPRK officials expressed their surprise at the move from Washington and said that it exhibited a ‘deep-rooted hostile relationship’ between the two countries. Meanwhile, the South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that he was embarrassed by this announcement from the US.
A shadow lurks over the would-be peacemaker’s political standing. Already, South Korean opposition parties are criticizing Moon for being naive on the international stage,’ says Kim in her two cents for the Nikkei Asian Review.
According to Richard N. Hass in his article for Axios, ‘there was no way the summit could have succeeded so long as the Trump administration defined success as a North Korean agreement to total denuclearization.’
‘Kim [Jong-un’s] diplomatic outreach has been driven by multiple motives—from seeking relief from the maximum pressure campaign to pursuing a new national strategy of economic development. He has little to gain from a return to the tensions of last year,’ opine Patricia M. Kim and Jeremy Fuller of the Council on Foreign Relations.
DPRK has demolished its one and only nuclear facility at Punggye-ri in the witness of many foreign journalists. The demolition destroyed three of the four tunnels, staff barracks, and military facilities. The six nuclear tests conducted by North Korea since 2006 have taken place in the tunnels dug below the mountain range. A South Korean Foreign Ministry Spokesperson hailed this effort as a positive step towards denuclearization of the region.
As per Anna Fifield from the Washington Post, ‘North Korea took the journalists to the site to report the event, but it did not allow in any experts, making it difficult to assess what exactly, they had done’.
‘Some analysts have also played down the significance of North Korea’s decision to shut down the site. They said that after six tests, all conducted in deep tunnels, the site has most likely caved in and become too unstable for another test,’ Choe Sang-Hun says in an article for the New York Times.
‘Dismantling production facilities and disarming will take years, as will convincing steps toward reconciliation. Only then will it become clear whether Kim is willing to give up his weapons,’ Leon V. Sigal opined in his piece for the Arms Control Association.
The Foreign Ministry of Iran condemned the decision by US to put sanctions on Iran saying that such actions are nothing short of bullying. Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has come up with 12 demands for Iran which include ceasing ballistic missile and nuclear weapons development and support for armed groups in the Middle East, as well as allowing international inspectors unqualified access to all sites.
‘The speech heralds an unabashed embrace of go-it-alone maximalism that is not only likely to come up short on Iran, but will also backfire across an array of US interests and allies in an unpredictable fashion,’ Suzanne Maloney says in her piece for the Brookings Institution.
‘The lure of continuity and the need to be praised by polite society could have easily tied Pompeo to the Washington consensus. But instead, in his maiden speech as Secretary of State, he identified the problem: a regime that is bent on extending its imperial frontiers, developing nuclear arms, and abusing its citizens,’ write Ray Takeyh and Mark Dubowitz in an article for Foreign Policy.
According to Peter Harrell in his analysis for Foreign Affairs, ‘applying economic pressure on Iran would also require diplomacy with two countries that are already causing significant challenges for the US: Russia and Turkey.’
French President Emmanuel Macron and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame had a rendezvous in Paris last week. Both the leaders vowed to boost cooperation on security-related issues in the region of Sahel, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Burundi opposition leader Amizero y’Abarundi stated that he and his coalition refute the results of the referendum on Presidential term limits held last week. He claimed that the opponents of the President Pierre Nkurunziza were subjected to maltreatment and intimidation ahead of the vote.
Ireland has decided to repeal one of the most restrictive bans in the world on abortions, casting aside generations of conservativism. The referendum on the issue was held in a response to public pressure after a series of harsh criticism on the Roman Catholic Church. According to the official tally, the ‘yes’ camp took more than 66 percent votes while the turn out for the referendum was 64 percent.
‘About 80% of Irish people described themselves as Catholic in the last census in 2016. Yet it’s rare for priests and religious dictates to play much of a role in determining the views of ordinary people on abortion, same-sex marriage, divorce and other aspects of modern family life. The abortion vote is just one of the many liberalizing things that have been happening in Ireland for a long time, and we are actually quite a progressive society,’ opined Mary McAuliffe who is a sociologist at University College Dublin.
Oran Doyle, a legal scholar at Trinity College Dublin, was of the following view: ‘Why did the change not happen sooner, given how easily the referendum passed? Obviously, the Catholic Church was opposed to it. However, the Catholic Church has lost its moral authority for the vast majority of Irish people.’
The US and Australia have decided to upgrade their military outposts in the city of Darwin, on the coast of Australia. The city is a host to the largest contingent of US marines and will now be able to accommodate warplanes and drones as well.
The Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson is expected to serve some time in jail after it was revealed that he was involved in covering up child abuse allegations against a fellow priest. In a historic decision, Magistrate Robert stone found that a 15-year-old boy had notified Archbishop Wilson of sexual assault in 1976 to which he turned a blind eye. The assaulter was the pedophile priest, Father James Fletcher. As a result, Archbishop Wilson faces maximum of two years in jail when he is sentenced on June 19.
Following weeks of escalated tensions, a deal was concluded by the envoys of US and China last week under which China is to purchase more goods from the US in order to reduce the $375 billion trade deficit. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the countries agreed to ‘put the tariffs on hold’ while Chinese Vice Premier Liu He called the agreement necessary but said structural problems in the countries’ economic and trade relations will take time to resolve.
‘Even with a drastic reallocation of Chinese imports of energy, raw materials and airplanes in favor of the US, the bilateral trade deficit may reduce by $100 billion,’ Victor Shih told Bloomberg in an interview.
‘China’s “concessions” are things it planned to do anyway. The Chinese have one of the fastest-growing economies and middle classes in the world. Chinese factories and cities need more energy, and its people want more meat,’ writes Heather Long in an article for the Washington Post.
According to Brad W. Setser of the Council on Foreign Relations, ‘[It is] quite likely imports from China will rise by approximately 10 percent this year, or 50 billion dollars. So even if the Trump administration gets its targets for agricultural and energy exports out of China, the bilateral deficit (Trump’s measure of choice) is still likely to expand,’ Brad W. Setser.