With the nation transfixed on hurricane Irma approaching Florida, 71-year-old Donald Trump is busy engaged in last-ditch diplomacy on North Korea. Running out of options to neutralize North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un nukes and ballistic missile program, Trump decided under international pressure to try one last shot a diplomacy to bring North Korea to the bargaining table. Russian President Vladimir Putin told the press Sept. 5 that Kim would rather have his people “eat grass” than give up his nukes and ballistic missiles. While that doesn’t bode well for Trump’s 11th hour diplomacy, the U.S. felt obliged to build a record on the Security Council of efforts to resolve the North Korean crisis diplomatically. U.S. officials plan to introduce tough new sanctions in the Security Council Monday, Sept. 11, heaping pressure on China and Russia to accept or reject the new measures.
Heaping pressure on Russia and China, Trump. hopes tough new sanctions put on the record the last best shot at diplomacy. Expected to ask for an oil embargo on North Korea, including a ban on North Korean foreign workers, Trump means business trying the most extreme diplomatic efforts ever put into place by the U.N. Security Council. Recommended by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, the sanctions aim to paralyze the North Korean economy, preventing Kim from getting economic support from China, Russia or any other country indirectly supplying its nuke and ballistic missile program. Putin said the harsh new economic sanctions would hurt the Korean people, not the dictator or his regime. Whether that’s true or not, the Security Council has been put on notice that any veto by China or Russia would dramatically increase the prospects of war on the Korean Peninsula.
Firing off more intermediate and long-range ballistic missiles, then detonating a possible thermonuclear hydrogen bomb Sept. 3, Trump’s at the end of his rope. Trump responded to Kim’s threats to turning the U.S. to “ashes” Aug. 8, telling Kim that any more threats against the U.S. or its allies would be met with “fire-and-fury.” Trump’s comments raised anxiety on the Security Council, prompting Secretary-Gen. Antonio Guterres to call for more sanctions and unity on the Council. Gaining support from British U.N. Amb. Matthew Rycroft for banning all oil imports, textiles and North Korean foreign workers could antagonize China and Russia. Beijing and Moscow want the U.S. and South Korea to stop war games, placate Kim Jong-un to make concessions on his nuke and ballistic missile programs. Generations of U.S. president since Bill Clinton have got nowhere with North Korea.
Whether it’s admitted to or not, China and Russia use North Korea as a buffer against potential U.S. or South Korean encroachment. Neither China nor Russian have been threatened, as the U.S., with nuclear war. If China and Russia veto the harsh new U.N. sanctions it will prove that both countries are in cahoots with North Korea to advance its nuke and ballistic missile programs. “It’s clear that American diplomacy over the past two decades has failed because this is where we are with North Korea, but if we failed, the Chinese ought to be abjectly embarrassed over the failures,” said Prof. Joe DeThomas, a former State Department official who dealt with North Korea. Negotiating lighter sanctions won’t fly with Trump, offering one last try at diplomacy before Cruise Missiles hit Pyongyang. Trump put South Korean on notice Sept. 1 that “appeasement” was not the answer with Kim.
Trump’s last-ditch diplomacy was the final step to see whether Kim could be brought to the bargaining table. If Putin’s right, that Kim will never give up his nukes and ballistic missiles, then the world faces war on the Korean Peninsula. No country can tolerate nuclear threats from another without consequences. “To get the situation contained without war is going to be really hard and that’s if we’ve got our diplomacy right,” said DeThomas, believing Monday’s Security Council sanctions are the last step before Trump takes military action to stop Kim’s nukes and ballistic missile program. If the new sanctions proposal is vetoed or watered down by China and Russia, there’s only one option left to neutralize North Korea’s threat to U.S. national security. If China and Russia wish to avoid war on the Korean Peninsula, they need to back Trump’s tough new economic sanctions.
Heading for the showdown in the U.N. Security Council Monday, China and Russia have a lot on the line. If they back the U.S. proposal to cut oil supplies off from North Korea, they’ll give diplomacy one last chance. If they water down or veto the harsh sanctions, the world will know where they stand, essentially backing North Korea’s nuke and ballistic missile programs. North Korea’s official KCNA new agency already blasted Trump for his new sanctions. North Korea’s “nuclear weaponization . .. has reached its final phase,” rejecting more U.N. sanctions. Ripping U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley for her “flagship role” in the White House “hideous sanctions and pressure ratchet against the DPRK,” KCNA reported. Calling Haley “a political prostitute,” KCNA said “the U.S. administration will have to pay a dear price for her tongue lashing,” continuing the rhetoric toward war.
