By John Laurits (johnlaurtis.com)
March 10, 2018
Did you hear the news? In what Mother Jones labeled a “stunning announcement,” South Korean officials stated that North Korea is willing to talk with the United States about ending its nuclear program, which CNN reported as a “remarkable development.” It almost seems — as both Fox News and the Atlantic speculate — as if Donald Trump’s hard-line strategy with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) actually worked. It didn’t, of course — the DPRK has offered to talk for a long time but most US-Americans don’t know it because their media and policymakers have ignored it. Until now, that is — now, a development that is truly remarkable is announced — Trump appears to have opted to be the first US president in history who will meet the Chairman of the Korean Workers Party and Korean head-of-state, Kim Jong Un.
US Media Misrepresents
North Korean Nuclear Talks
Despite the narrative pushed by the commentariat, North Korean readiness to halt its pursuit of a nuclear arsenal and the missile technology to deliver it is the same as it has been for ages. The DPRK has consistently said that its nuclear program is its only deterrent against a US attempt at regime-change and that it is willing to end it if the US will recognize its sovereignty by negotiating in good faith with DPRK leaders to withdraw US forces from Korea. With minor variations, this is what the North Korean leadership has been repeating from the start of its nuclear adventure up to today.
If this is so — and it is so — why is the media pretending that North Korea’s willingness to negotiate its nuclear policy is somehow a new development? Has nobody shown Mother Jones or CNN how to Google?
The Long History of the US Refusing
North Korean Calls for Nuclear Talks
Since the “news media” seems unable to find the many official North Korean public statements inviting the US and its allies to negotiate an end to its nuclear program, here is list of recent offers with complete citations.
2017: CHINA + RUSSIA BROKER DPRK OFFER
TO HALT NUCLEAR PROGRAM, US REFUSES
Its not like we ever destroyed North Korea or anyth — oh, wait. (Pyongyang after US bombing during the Korean War)
Last year, July 6th, 2017, China and Russia brokered a deal with North Korea’s leaders who agreed to freeze their nuclear programif the US would suspend its yearly military exercises in the South, which the North views as aggressive (imagine what the US might do if DPRK soldiers trained just south of the US border!). Of course, Trump’s USA declined the offer and neither CNN nor Mother Jones thought it was stunning or remarkable or even worthy of reporting. Earlier in ’17 — on New Years Day — just before Trump took office — Kim Jong Un himself gave a public speech explicitly stating the DPRK’s position:
“We will continue to build up our self-defence capability, the pivot of which is the nuclear forces, and the capability for preemptive strike as long as the United States and its vassal forces keep on nuclear threat and blackmail and as long as they do not stop their war games they stage at our doorstep disguising them as annual events”
2016: DPRK EXPLAINS ITS POSITION TO UN,
OFFERS PEACE TREATY TO US, US REFUSES
The year before — on September 23rd, 2016 — Mr. Ri Yon Ho, DPRK Minister for Foreign Affairs, spoke during the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly, explaining:
“Going nuclear armed is the policy of our state. As long as there exists a nuclear weapon state in hostile relations with the DPRK, our national security and the peace on the Korean peninsula can be defended only with reliable nuclear deterrence. The reason why we had no other option but to strengthen our nuclear deterrence with all hearts and soul may not be easily understood by […] countries which have never experienced the nuclear weapons of a hostile power appearing at their doorstep and around their air space.”
Echoing Kim Jong Un’s 2016 New Years address, the North Korean Jurists’ Committee released a paper about the US refusal to sign the peace treaty offered by the DPRK “to put a definite end to the state of war from a legal point of view and establish relations of lasting peace.”
2015: DPRK OFFERS PEACE TREATY & NUCLEAR TALKS, US REFUSES
In 2015, after explaining the DPRK position on its nuclear program and asking the US to sign a peace treaty during the UN General Assembly’s 70th Session, Mr. Ri Su Yong stated:
“It is high time for the US to come up with the signing of a peace treaty. The Government of the DPRK is willing to hold constructive dialogue to prevent war and conflicts on the Korean peninsula, once the United States agrees to replace the armistice with a peace treaty […] If the US makes a policy change with courage, dramatic improvement will be affected in the security environment of the Korean peninsula and eventually lead to addressing security concerns of the US”
2014: DPRK OFFERS TALKS TO RESOLVE NUCLEAR ISSUE, US REFUSES
On the 27th of September, 2014, North Korean MFA Mr. Ri Su Yong— this time at the 69th Session of the UN General Assembly — said this:
“The hostile policy, nuclear threat and stifling strategy pursued by the US for more than half a century resulted in the decision [to become a] nuclear weapons [by] the DPRK. The nuclear deterrent of the DPRK is not intended to threaten or attack others, neither is it a bargaining chip to be exchanged for something else. The nuclear issue will be resolved if and when the threat to our sovereignty and right to life is removed in substance with termination of the US hostile policy against the DPRK.”
Is US Media Lying About North Korea?
( Or Are They Really This Stupid? )
A recent article in the Atlantic had this to say on the recent developments in US-Korean relations:
“…then, suddenly, South Korea said Tuesday that the North was open to talks with the U.S., including on renouncing its nuclear weapons program—something Kim Jong Un had never put on the table before. Could that mean that Trump’s blustery rhetoric … worked?”
In light of the statements listed above by both Kim Jong un himself and by the North Korean government in general, the Atlantic’s analysis is ignorant or lazy at best and willfully dishonest at worst. But the Atlantic is not the only guilty one — CNN characterized the DPRK’s latest bid for diplomacy as “a decisive shift on the part of Kim Jong un towards diplomacy.” True to form, Fox News managed to find multiple “experts” who somehow concluded that this particular offer by the DPRK to negotiate is a result of Trump’s “brash rhetoric and his love for picking a fight via Twitter.”
MSNBC: #1 in Warmongering, Racist Vitriol
While CNN, Fox, the Atlantic, and Mother Jones pretended the DPRK’s readiness to negotiate is a new development, MSBC looked at the situation from a different angle. An article published by MSNBC’s Steve Benen— a producer of the Rachel Maddow Show — starts by acknowledging the DPRK’s long history of urging the US to engage in direct diplomacy:
“…Trump has agreed to give Kim Jong-un exactly what he wants. North Korean leaders have sought this kind of meeting for decades…”
And then it takes a sharp turn by adding that North Korean leaders only want diplomacy to “show the world that North Korea’s leader is being treated as an equal by the Leader of the Free World.” Yes, wouldn’t that be awful — a North Korean leader treated as an equal! After this, Benen goes on to treat the DPRK like children by saying that other US presidents “left open the possibility” for talks “but only as a reward for meaningful and tangible results.”
The Dark, Dark Heart
Of the Neoliberal Worldview
The strangest — and frankly most disturbing — part of this MSNBC article is that Benen concludes by accidentally offering a pretty solid analysis:
“Besides, from Kim Jong-un’s perspective, the purpose of his nuclear program is working beautifully: it’s not only prevented hostile actions from its enemies, it’s also bringing the president of the United States directly to the negotiating table.”
This is, in fact, true. The purpose of the North Korean nuclear program is, as Benen writes, to “[prevent] hostile actions from its enemies” and bring the US “directly to the negotiating table.” The context is what makes it disturbing. Though Benen’s statement is true, he writes it in a way that assumes — and expects MSNBC’s readers and viewers to also assume — that North Korea’s attempt to protect itself from harm and force a peaceful diplomatic solution is a bad thing.
To MSNBC and others poisoned by this ideology, the US is entitled to be the boss in all situations, has no obligation to respect the wishes, well-being, or autonomy of other nations, and — if they don’t like it — well, then we can just fucking kill them.
Beware the Poison of the Media’s Framing of North Korea
The fact that this nonsense is accepted at face-value is just more evidence that US-Americans pay almost no attention to anything that North Korea’s spokespeople say. This near-total ignorance of the North Korean perspective is a direct result of the racist, imperialist ideology spread by mainstream news-outlets to justify the military adventures of US armed-forces across the globe.
There is no lack of readily-available statements from the DPRK – one Google search is all it takes to find them — but the news-media and public officials teach the US public that North Korean perspectives are invalid, insane, or disingenuous and so they never bother to look. The end result is that FOX, CNN, or MSNBC hosts with all their special guests and war-horny pundits get to think for them. People believe outlandish claims that Kim Jong Un fed his uncle to a pack of hungry dogs (which he didn’t) or that citizens are put to death for watching foreign movies (despite the verifiable fact that the Pyongyang International Film Festival is held in North Korea every other year).
Trump Meeting Kim Jong Un Is Huge —
But Should We Feel Hope or Fear?
Fox, CNN, mother Jones, and the Atlantic are all dead-wrong that North Korea’s offer is a new development and dead-wrong that the offer is a result of Trump’s tweets. MSNBC (or at least Benen’s article) is right that the US engaging in direct talks with the DPRK is a big step forward for the Korean Workers Party and North Korean people, as well as an opportunity for Kim Jong Un to show that he is a leader worthy of succeeding his mighty grandfather, Kim Il Sung. What remains to be seen is whether Trump’s administration is truly pursuing constructive dialogue to work toward reasonable and mutual compromise with the DPRK or simply putting on a good dramatic show for the public. Only time will tell and — until it does — we should all hope for the best.
In either case — if there is an anti-war movement, if there is a Left, and if there be friends of the Korean people in the US, this is exactly the time to make a lot of noise. This is the time to engage in outreach and to educate the US public about the history of injustices inflicted by their government on North Koreans from 1945 unto today. This is the time to raise your voices together to force each and every hand-wringing, spineless politician in the nation to understand that US-Americans wish peace to North Korea and death to imperialism.
In solidarity,
John Laurits
