World View: North Korea’s Kim Jong-un Met Pompeo in a Rolls-Royce Phantom, Violating Sanctions

The North Korea issue returned after it emerged at the weekend Kim Jong-Un's regime might
AFP
John J. Xenakis

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

  • N. Korea’s Kim Jong-un met Pompeo in a new Rolls-Royce Phantom, violating sanctions
  • Growth of Ebola cases suddenly surges in DR Congo, threatening Uganda, Rwanda

N. Korea’s Kim Jong-un met Pompeo in a new Rolls-Royce Phantom, violating sanctions

Kim Jong-un arrives at meeting after stepping out of a new black Rolls Royce Phantom limousine (CNN)
Kim Jong-un arrives at meeting after stepping out of a new black Rolls Royce Phantom limousine (CNN)

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to North Korea’s capital city Pyongyang last week for a meeting with the child dictator Kim Jong-un.

A smiling Kim was driven to the meeting in a new black Rolls Royce Phantom limousine. The car costs $500,000, with an additional $200,000 investment to provide security.

This car could not have been acquired without violating United Nations sanctions, probably with delivery from China. Ostentatiously driving this car to the meeting appears to have been a slap in the face to Pompeo.

Not surprisingly, the meeting appeared to accomplish little.

North Korea is demanding that the U.S. sign a peace treaty that would officially end the 1950s Korean War and offered in exchange to destroy a nuclear test site that was unusable, anyway. Signing the peace treaty might lead to the withdrawal of American troops from South Korea, which Pompeo refused.

Pompeo demanded a list of all nuclear and ballistic missile development and test sites in North Korea in return for reducing or eliminating sanctions and Kim refused.

South Korea, China, and Russia are increasing international pressure on the Trump administration to agree to reduce sanctions on North Korea, despite the fact that the North has made no irreversible concessions. The U.S. has made a reversible concession by suspending all military drills with South Korea.

The objective of the North Korean regime from the beginning has been to use reversible concessions, a charm offensive and international pressure to force the Trump administration to reduce or eliminate sanctions. That would be an enormous victory for North Korea and a total humiliation to America, as it was when a similar North Korea strategy worked against the Bush administration in 2007. Chosun (Seoul) and UPI and CNN

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Growth of Ebola cases suddenly surges in DR Congo, threatening Uganda, Rwanda

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that there are now 200 cases of Ebola in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with 165 of them confirmed and the other 35 considered probable.

There were 33 new cases between October 1-9, compared with 41 cases in the entire month of September. The number of new cases each day has more than doubled in October, compared to September.

There are a couple of reasons for the sudden surge in the growth of the number of cases. The main reason is that Ebola is spreading into a war zone for a major ethnic war in DRC’s North Kivu province, and so it is often impossible for WHO health workers to even enter these areas or, if they do, they receive opposition from the local population, who fear and distrust them.

A second, related reason, is that most of the new cases are now in the densely populated city of Beni, and Beni is also in the war zone.

Sometimes health workers are targeted by armed opposition groups, but even when they are not, they may be forced to stay out of an infected area because of continuing gunfights or because of protests by groups opposing the violence.

The city of Beni is near the border with Uganda, and it seems increasingly likely that Ebola will spread into Uganda, and possibly into Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan. World Health Organization (WHO) and Relief Web and Punch (Nigeria) and AFP and Canadian Broadcasting

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KEYS: Generational Dynamics, North Korea, Kim Jong-un, Rolls Royce Phantom, Mike Pompeo, Ebola, Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, North Kivu, Beni, World Health Organization, WHO, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan
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