Secret US - North Korea Meeting in March, Just Prior to Provocations.

Dear ATSers,

I thought this was useful and important news. I'm sorry to be posting so much of the article, but there doesn't seem to be much fluff in it. My opinion? See the bolded section of the article. EDIT TO ADD: (Sorry, I didn't realize it was on Drudge or I wouldn't have bothered.)

Clifford Hart, the State Department's special envoy to the now-defunct six-party talks, met North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Nations Han Song-ryol in mid-March, just before North Korea began its latest string of provocative statements and actions, diplomatic sources said. The meeting was done through what's known in diplomatic circles as the "New York channel," the most common method of direct communication between Washington and Pyongyang.

No real progress was made during the meeting and no new offers were made by the U.S. officials present, the sources said. The U.S. side simply reiterated the administration's call for North Korea to avoid provocative actions as well as its offer for a return to diplomacy if North Korea recommitted to fulfilling its international obligations and pursuing a path of denuclearization. The North Korean side simply agreed to communicate that information back to Pyongyang.

For outside experts critical of the Obama administration's current approach to North Korea, which is based on the principle of "strategic patience," or waiting for Pyongyang to change its calculus and rejoin multilateral talks, the meeting is only the latest indication that the administration's policy is stagnant.

"Unfortunately, the New York channel, which in the past was an important communications link between Pyongyang and Washington, appears to have become a place where boilerplate talking points are exchanged," former nuclear negotiator Joel Wit told The Cable. "It's especially disappointing given the ongoing crisis which puts a premium on candid communication to avoid misunderstanding and to find a diplomatic off-ramp from the current tense situation."

Most recently, the New York channel was used to warn the State Department just before North Korea tested a nuclear bomb for the third time in February. North Korea is expected to test a medium-range ballistic missile as early as Wednesday and another warning could come to the Obama administration via North Korea's representative office at the U.N.

A former U.S. official who worked on North Korea in past administrations described how the New York channel works in an interview with The Cable just after the last nuclear test.

"It's been the main channel of communication between the North Korean government and the U.S. government. We don't have any other channels we use," the official said.

The State Department declined to comment on the March New York meeting, in keeping with its past reticence to discuss the New York channel.

"They're afraid of their shadows," the former official said. "It's like ‘No one can know we are actually communicating with these people because they are bad.'"

Secretary of State John Kerry will visit China, South Korea, and Japan later this week. A senior administration told CNN that Kerry will try to present a diplomatic path out of the crisis during his trip.

At Tuesday's State Department briefing, Spokesperson Patrick Ventrell declined to say whether there have been any communications with Pyongyang through the New York channel since March.

"Well, you know we have a channel of communications. I don't have anything specifically to read out about that. But the channel remains open as necessary," he said. (Emphasis added)

thecable.foreignpolicy.com...
With respect,
Charles1952

Open channel's last known communication.

You stop it lil Kim
I won't.

Now just keep repeating that and you will have the problem. I only tell someone to stop once before I kick their ass.....

reply to post by Mamatus

Dear Mamatus,

I'd like to think there was a time when the US was credible and respected; appreciated by our friends and feared by our enemies. Reagan, probably. Clinton, probably not.

Oh, well. Is the country in the ICU yet?

With respect,
Charles1952

reply to post by charles1952


Feared and envied is much more likely.

Originally posted by charles1952

I'd like to think there was a time when the US was credible and respected;

There was my Friend, but that stopped Nov 22 , 1963.

Is it me? or this is a warm attempt at blaming Obama for the current war of words?

reply to post by Agit8dChop

Dear Agit8dChop,

I'm not sure what a "Warm attempt" is, but I'd be happy to explain my thinking.

I was surprised at the existence of the "New York Channel." I didn't realize that we had a link that went to North Korea even in times of heightened stress. The whole thing seemed kind of secret and behind the scenes, I thought that was the sort of thing ATSers would enjoy.

After I posted the article, I realized that I hadn't said anything about it, an ATS "no-no." I really didn't have any opinion, I saw it as a news article, so I just highlighted the article's opinion in case somebody wanted to start a discussion on that.

With respect,
Charles1952

Originally posted by Agit8dChop
Is it me? or this is a warm attempt at blaming Obama for the current war of words?

Unfortunately, Obama's "reputation" with the North Koreans is as with any U.S. President. All U.S. Presidents are Warmongers. They want War with North Korea, if you ask any North Korean. You would get a better response if you sent Dennis Rodman and the Globetrotters.

You can blame Obama for maybe one thing. Not living up to the standards he himself wants the World to perceive. That is, "God Like", and can do no wrong. The Megalomaniac Cult of Personality runs deep with both these leaders. My personal opinion, BTW.

reply to post by Agit8dChop

Dear Agit8dChop,

I just had a thought. I wasn't thinking of blaming Obama, but he's had four years to mend fences with N. Korea, Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, and his stated commitment to improve the world's attitudes towards the US. There may be other reasons for the problems, but "The buck stops here."

With respect,
Charles1952

Originally posted by charles1952


I just had a thought. I wasn't thinking of blaming Obama, but he's had four years to mend fences with N. Korea

Unfortunately, there really is no "mending' when it comes to North Korea. They want a unified Korea, with North Korea's brand of Communism in control of it. MHO

Originally posted by sonnny1

Originally posted by Agit8dChop
Is it me? or this is a warm attempt at blaming Obama for the current war of words?

Unfortunately, Obama's "reputation" with the North Koreans is as with any U.S. President. All U.S. Presidents are Warmongers. They want War with North Korea, if you ask any North Korean. You would get a better response if you sent Dennis Rodman and the Globetrotters.

You can blame Obama for maybe one thing. Not living up to the standards he himself wants the World to perceive. That is, "God Like", and can do no wrong. The Megalomaniac Cult of Personality runs deep with both these leaders. My personal opinion, BTW.

Well explain this to me genius if all US presidents wanted war with Korea why is dear leader still blabbing his fat head off?


And I am sure crack head Dennis can solve all our problems. Sometimes I really wonder if posters are serious or what.

Well I personally bleieve that the SS US, and the SS N Korea, for they're friends, the elite and Rockefellers have been operating there for a long long time IMO.

Just google Benjamin Fulford and North Korea.

So to me, they probably made lots of deals and worked out the scripts and timelines together.

Originally posted by SubTruth

Well explain this to me genius if all US presidents wanted war with Korea why is dear leader still blabbing his fat head off?

Because North Korean leadership views the US as Warmongers, who want war.You should really "educate" yourself on what they teach their people about America and the West. You might become a "genius" too.

Originally posted by SubTruth
And I am sure crack head Dennis can solve all our problems.

Sometimes I really wonder if posters are serious or what.

Did you really believed that I was "serious"?



Using the word "Genius" in any of your sentences, should count as point deductions in your posts.........