Asia Times
Bertil Lintner April 26, 2018 2:25 PM (UTC+8)
[excerpt]
http://www.atimes.com/article/no-sign-yet-kim-really-intends-to-denuclearize/North Korean leader's widely cited April 20 speech, breathlessly misreported by various media, made no mention of unilaterally yielding his nuclear arsenal As South Korea’s president Moon Jae-in and North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-un prepare for their meeting on Friday, the world will be watching in awe. But has North Korea really agreed to “denuclearize,†as US President Donald Trump tweeted on April 22?
Even international wire service reports have forwarded the breathless narrative that North Korea is ready to ditch its arsenal of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. But what North Korea’s leader actually said in his recent cited speech is quite different and doesn’t by any honest measure amount to a promise to give up his weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
North Korea’s supposed announcement was actually part of a much longer April 20 speech made by Kim at a plenary meeting with the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang.
