You gotta give President Trump credit for controlling the media cycle. Tonight at 9:00pm President Donald Trump will announce his Supreme Court pick in a prime-time address.
It has been reported that four candidates remain in the running: Amy Coney Barrett, Thomas Hardiman, Brett Kavanaugh, and Raymond Kethledge.
UPDATE: President Trump nominates Brett Kavanaugh !!
Livestream Link – NBC Livestream Link – USA Today Livestream – Alternate Livestream
It is more than likely President Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross knew this was in the making several months ago. In hindsight it now appears Germany presented a false proposal to U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell intentionally to poke him in the eye.
Germany has sealed the fate of their auto-industry with a multi-company agreement to manufacture vehicles in China and share all their intellectual processes therein.
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German companies signed a series of agreements with Chinese partners at a meeting of Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Li Keqiang in Berlin on Monday, according to a document seen by Reuters. Following are details of them:
♦BASF signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China’s Guangdong Province to look at building a highly-integrated chemical production site there, BASF said.
♦[…] BMW and its joint venture partner Brilliance Automotive Group Holdings (1114.HK) have agreed to expand production capacity at BMW Brilliance Automotive’s two sites in China to a total of 520,000 BMW brand vehicles in 2019, BMW said. In addition, it said the two companies had agreed that the all-electric BMW iX3 would be exported from China to other markets.
♦[…] Bosch and Chinese electric vehicle startup NIO agreed to cooperate on sensor technology, automated driving, electric motor controls and intelligent transport systems.
♦[…] Volkswagen said its Spanish brand SEAT would return to the Chinese market in 2020/21 as part of an agreement with China’s Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group (JAC) (600418.SS) to develop electric vehicles. VW, SEAT and JAC will jointly set up a new research and development center in China to develop electric cars as well as technologies for connectivity and autonomous driving, it said. (read more)
On its face this seems like a poor decision on the part of Germany, however within multinational trade constructs the alignments are a heavy blend of the political and the financial. Germany is aligning their interests ideologically with China and as a consequence they will likely see ZERO benefit in any trade negotiation with the U.S.
Chancellor Merkel is taking a gamble here, because China is aligning with Iran in the energy sector; and as an extended consequence Merkel’s auto industry will likely face 20% import tariffs from the U.S.
Chinese built BMWs will likely not hold much appeal in the U.S; and the structure of this German-China deal has downstream ramifications making the U.S. exit from NAFTA more urgent; thereby cutting off the workaround the EU -specifically BMW- was counting on from the new Mexican auto plant set to begin production next year.
Immediately following the 2016 election (December), President Trump warned BMW (and others) about opening a manufacturing plant in Mexico; Trump suggested such a decision might backfire. BMW ignored the warning and contracted with Mexico for an auto plant with intentions to use NAFTA to bring the completed cars to market.
The plant is anticipated to be operational in 2019; however, it is now increasingly likely that NAFTA will be dissolved and President Trump is threatening a 20% auto-tariff to any imported cars.
BMW was planning on using the NAFTA loophole to assemble EU auto parts in Mexico for duty-free transport into the U.S. However, now there’s a likelihood the BMW sedans planned to be built in Mexico could be subject to U.S. tariffs and they cannot gain benefit from the NAFTA loophole.
BMW builds SUVs in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The reason they build them there is due to a 25% pre-Trump existing tariff on imported SUV’s. It looks like BMW made a bad decision to build an car plant in Mexico; although their position as expressed within the Reuters article fails to mention this aspect at all. Obviously they don’t mention the 2016 warning from President-Elect Trump either.
The alliances will not end well for the EU. This is a perfect opportunity for President Trump to push a bilateral trade deal with the U.K…. but British political leadership is too stupid to see the opportunity.
There is a very important article posted last night on The Daily Caller [SEE HERE] The article surrounds a discovery that Robert Mueller’s lead attorney Andrew Weissmann worked with four AP journalists on both the story of Paul Manafort’s business interests; and, more importantly, and jawdroppingly, the evidence for Mueller to use against Paul Manafort.
Read the article HERE. I’ll try to explain why this appears so important.
The gist of the story is that Andrew Weissmann was meeting with AP reporters in April of 2017, approximately a month prior to the formal construct of the Robert Mueller investigation. The information from the meeting, which was essentially based on research provided by the “reporters” about Paul Manafort, was then later used in the formation of the underlying evidence against Manafort to gain a search warrant.
To understand the implications we must overlay a set of facts that has perplexed CTH for almost a year. Back in April 2017 Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, declassified a FISA court ruling that had/has massive potential implications. The 99-page ruling, written by FISA Court Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer, outlined structural issues and admissions by the DOJ and FBI about violations of search queries within the NSA and FBI database.
Essentially, the underlying evidence within the Collyer FISA report, outlines how the DOJ National Security Division (John P Carlin), FBI and NSA (Admiral Mike Rogers) informed the court that unauthorized access to the NSA/FBI database had been ongoing for a long period of time. The “unauthorized access” was primarily driven by contractors who had access to the information database and were using it in 2015 and 2016. According to the report over 85% of searches conducted were “unauthorized” abuses of the system. DOJ-NSD head John Carlin resigned in 2016 immediately after informing the court.
Since the discovery of this issue a great deal of disconnected information has followed. Including how FBI Director James Comey allowed his friend Daniel Richman to have “special access” to this information database.
The term “contractors” is opaque in the ruling, and there are hundreds of redactions protecting the names of the individuals and groups who participated in the unauthorized searches. However, within the testimony of Fusion-GPS founder Glenn Simpson; and the story of the Steele Dossier and Nellie Ohr; we discover a nexus of information users.
Fusion GPS was/is essentially in the ‘information for hire‘ business, selling to clients for a price and using networks of journalists and former government officials to transmit, share and disseminate information on behalf of their clients. Essentially, Fusion GPS is an opposition research group with a network of journalists, paid and unpaid, that it uses to frame constructed narratives to the benefit of their clients. In the spring, summer and fall of 2016, the Hillary Clinton campaign was one such client.
In April 2017, at the time of this meeting with AP reporters, Andrew Weissmann was chief of the Justice Department’s criminal fraud section. Weissmann joined the special counsel a month later, May 2017.
We already know the FISA searches were essentially political opposition research being conducted by these opaque ‘contractors’. We know the ideology within the DOJ-NSD and FBI, the generic intent of their motive, from the communication amid the group doing the Clinton and Trump investigations; text messages, memos and emails which have since become public.
A common sense review of all facts outlines a strong likelihood these database searches were ongoing by groups and individuals affiliated with Fusion GPS and other political networks. It’s a simple process of selling information.
We also know that Christopher Steele was a beneficiary of information provided within this process; and we know that Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS) was conducting research into Paul Manafort as part of his personal oppo research and political/business endeavors. We also know that Fusion-GPS paid journalists (would love to see those names now); and from British court documents -and Simpson transcript- we know Fusion-GPS coordinated meetings between journalists and contractors like Christopher Steele:
Within the underlying story of how a FISA Title-1 surveillance application was assembled against U.S. person Carter Page, we clearly see how intelligence was laundered through a process of leaking to the media and then cycling the media article back into official intelligence reports. The Carter Page FISA application used media stories as underlying evidence for the search warrant. The media stories came from officials within the FBI, and Fusion GPS; the FBI was essentially manufacturing the evidence they needed.
So, with all of that in mind, this meeting between Andrew Weissmann and AP reporters, as outlined by The Daily Caller, is essentially another round of same-method manufacturing of evidence; it is a collaborative effort. The result therein is information to be exploited by Special Counsel Robert Mueller to gain search warrants against Paul Manafort.
Here’s what I don’t understand. Not a single congressional hearing has ever questioned the FISA search issues? Not a single question to a single witness, specifically Comey or Yates, ever asked them about the DOJ-NSD and FBI abuse of the FISA database.
The origin of almost all of the corruption seems to consistently circle back to the abuse of the FBI and NSA database which is very much documented and never subject to being refuted. Yet for some reason I cannot fathom, the historic FISA surveillance/search abuse issue is never brought up by anyone, any investigative authority, in any aspect of this ongoing storyline.
It all starts with abuses of the FISA system for political opposition research; yet we never hear a single voice calling attention to the DOJ-NSD and FBI abuse of this system. Frustrating…
There is trouble ahead for Great Britain as the leaders of the British exit from the European Union (Brexit) quit in disgust over Prime Minister Theresa May’s abhorrent acquiescence to multinational corporations and the EU globalists. British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson quit today.
Western Media are quick to come to the defense of Prime Minister May due to their financial and ideological alignment with the multinational media organizations and corporations who pull the strings.
EU Council President Donald Tusk quickly raises the idea that Brexit might be called off. “Politicians come and go but the problems they have created for people remain,” he tweeted. Ultimately, this has been the goal of the multinationals’ all along. The EU constructed the Brexit negotiations around the basic premise there would be no substantive change to the relationship. Prime Minister May went along with the corrupocrat scheme, and now the primary voices behind the Brexit negotiation have quit.
(Via Reuters) […] May’s office said it had accepted Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s resignation on Monday, hours after Brexit minister David Davis, in charge of exit negotiations with the bloc, quit on Sunday night.
The two departures shatter May’s own proclamation of cabinet unity last Friday, when she believed she had, after two years of wrangling, secured agreement on Britain’s biggest foreign and trading policy shift in almost half a century. (read more)
As an outcome, the UniParty British Parliament (Labour and Conservatives) are thrilled as the voices of the British people are dismissed. Elitism within the ‘we know better’ crowd rears its ugly head once again.
There’s a familiarity, an almost parallel construct, taking place within the United States congress over international trade negotiations etc. The U.S. UniParty, filled with politicians who are purchased by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Wall Street and the multinationals, are fighting against President Trump the same way the U.K. politicians are fighting against the British people.
American ‘Deplorables’ find common cause and understanding with the British ‘commoners’; both groups fighting against a political class that sees themselves as better than the group they are supposed to represent. Sickening elitism and globalism on display in both countries. Underpinning it all is the root of all evil, money.
The timing is interesting. U.S. President Trump is scheduled to arrive in the U.K on Thursday. President Trump fully supports the sovereign right of the British people to get out of the European Union; and he supports Brexit. Conversely Prime Minister Theresa May is aligned with the ruling class against the majority will of her constituents. There is a prime opportunity for President Trump to speak in support of Brexit and dispatch the elitist sensibilities of the British ruling class.
No doubt the politicians within the U.K. are concerned about the optics of a U.S. President Trump outlining freedom and the voice of the people while the elite ruling class are forced to listen….. This could get very interesting.
President Donald Trump used twitter today to begin a process. [BACKSTORY HERE] This is another example of using brutal honesty in digestible doses to change the reference points of most international observers. Few have any real understanding of the dynamic between the U.S. and North Korea vis-a-vis China.
This tweet is serious business. It is fired directly into the heart of Beijing. It is the mother of all truth bombs, and it takes away the ability of Chairman Xi to act in sunlight.
“Subtle” like a brick through a window. [Backstory available here.] President Trump is removing the Panda mask to reveal the authentic nature of Chairman Xi Jinping. Simultaneously Trump is trying to rescue Kim Jong-un from the clutches of the Red dragon behind the mask.
Watch Steven Mnuchin to see if enhanced treasury sanctions resurface now.
QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, I thought you would be wrong on the pound. I will yield to your forecasts. I do not know how you do it forecasting so many things around the world and getting them right no less. Reading between the lines who have written, on the one hand, you have said that Brexit was critical to save Britain, yet at the same time you said the pound would drop sharply. It seems as though you were forecasting the collapse of Brexit. My question now is, will the Tory Party even survive?
PF
ANSWER: The first thing you have to come to grips with is a computer is VOID of human emotion. Virtually all human forecasting has an inherent bias, for people will forecast what they want to see even if they do not realize they are doing so. To be correct, it requires extracting ALL human judgment and emotion from the subject matter. This is why I say people ask me what SOCRATES has to say – NOT me! That is the way it should be.
I have to say that Boris Johnson’s comment that Britain is headed for the status of a “colony” is absolutely correct. There are “remainers” who have simply ignore ALL the economic data and will seriously end Britain as any sort of viable economy. Britain has ALWAYS been treated as a second-class European culture and it will end up subservient to that of the EU. It may simply be too much to expect rational political leadership any more from Britain. Instead of the cabinet stabbling the PM in the back as they did with Thatcher to also try to join the euro, this time it is the PM who is stabbing her cabinet and the people in the back trying to keep in by pretending she is leaving.
It may be just time to play the traditional funeral song and remove our hats.
Let us look at the arrays. Here we can see that July has been the target in the pound. The next one will be in September. Now look at the Weekly Array – it picked this week. So how does the computer pinpoint these political events that align with the top people in BREXIT resigning? I “think” we have to flip the question. In other words, it is not the computer forecasting the resignation of David Davis, who was the top negotiator for BREXIT, and Boris Johnson. There are people now calling for Nigel Farage to return. Quite frankly, Nigel is probably the ONLY hope for Britain. Unless they cut the umbilical cord to the EU, Britain cannot possibly survive.
This is the government’s own data. The economic growth of Britain peaked before it joined the EU and has declined steadily ever since. Britain loses EVERY trade argument in the EU Court. It is baffling how and why anyone would still think that staying in the EU is better. Since 1832, the two major parties have been the Conservatives (Tory) and the Liberals/Liberal Democrats. The Labour government emerged in the 1890s following Karl Marx. James Ramsay MacDonald (1866–1937) was the first British statesman to found the Labour Party, preaching Marxism, and he eventually became Prime Minister. His appointment lead to minority Labour governments in 1924 and in 1929–31. MacDonald then headed a National Government from 1931 to 1935 that was dominated by the Conservative Party which was supported by only a few Labour members.
MacDonald presided at the world economic conference in London in June 1933. Nearly every nation was represented, but no agreement was possible. American President Franklin D. Roosevelt refused to stabilize the depreciating dollar. The failure marked the end of international economic co-operation for another decade. MacDonald was deeply impacted by the rising anger and bitterness caused by the fall of the Labour government during the 1935 election. He increasingly became an isolated figure. The collapse of free trade initiatives led to the resignation of a leading Labour figure, Philip Snowden, in 1932 following the introduction of tariffs after the Ottawa agreement. MacDonald was later expelled from the party he had helped to found.
Since 1918, British elections have been dominated by the Conservatives and Labour. In 16 out of 26 general elections since 1918, the Conservative Party won most seats, while Labour won most seats on the other ten occasions. In all general elections between 1918 and 1945, the Conservatives received more votes than any other party (only in 1997 did they get less than 35% of the vote).
Yes, there has been a conflict whereby the political models have shown that support for the Conservatives was beginning to decline. While Labour was rising, it appeared to be more of a reactionary trend. Even technically speaking, Labour retests the Downtrend Line whereas the Conservatives appeared to rally after the coup against Margaret Thatcher to take the pound into the euro. This is not the END of the Conservatives, but the PM has to realize that any concern about leaving the EU is absolutely stupid. Europe is tearing itself apart. Nigel Farage should step back in, but he has paid a high price personally for trying to save his own country.
COMMENT: Dear Mr. Armstrong, The weather, politics, and life in general is getting a little more skewed month by month on the planet—and like everyone else in history who has experienced cyclical highs and lows, I sure wish I’d been able to skip this cycle altogether— I’m 64 and really trying to keep realistic and not succumb to Doom Porn, when trying to imagine my life when I am in my 80’s. There’s a lot of days those efforts don’t work, frankly, but I persevere—reading your blog helps so much, I needed to again say THANK YOU-thank you, thank you for being online every single blessed day- it means so very much to so many of us out here, struggling to try and make a plan to survive what’s coming.
Peace and good wishes to you and your family
C
REPLY: I look at this as Joseph forecasting 7 years of plenty and 7 years of drought. If we understand there is a cycle, then we can prepare for it and survive. Britain was the Financial Capital of the World up until World War I. It went through some hard times but it survived. We are in the eye of the storm coming out the other end. When we do, the turmoil will begin. While I would hope that at some point the political powers at large will listen, the likelihood of that is nil until the crisis happens. Government will never surrender power which is like a drug addiction. The question becomes how far they will go to retain that power. Will they be so blind like the government of Venezuela whose army continues to support a failed economic model by killing their own people to force submission? The longer the government wages war against its own people to retain power, the greater the fall into economic oblivion.
Rome fell because its army fragmented and troops would support one general v another, all for money. They then used that excuse to be paid and began sacking Roman cities who supported as rival general. Curiously, there were 31 emperors (not including their sons) during the course of 40 years between 244 AD and 284 AD when Diocletian comes to power. That astonishingly lined up with the number of pi.
I am off to Europe in August to shoot another documentary film on this very subject of a solution. Hopefully, this will establish a record in time of crisis as a viable solution to help reduce the volatility. We need the people to apply pressure for it will never comes from government.
QUESTION: Martin,
I know that the basic ECM cycle’s 4.3 year decline subdivides into a 1.075 year decline, 1.075 year rise, and 2.15 year decline. However, if I remember correctly, the 2.15 year decline also includes the Pi cycle turn 3.14 years from the top.
If I remember correctly for this ECM cycle, the 2.15 year decline began 2017.9, should turn up about July 12, top with the Pi cycle 2018.89, and finally bottom 2020.05.
I have always wondered, (1) what is the basis of determining this turn up into the Pi cycle, and (2) is this turn up ever significant, or simply a setup for the major event, the November 22 (2018.89) Pi cycle?
Of course, please feel free to correct any of errors in my interpretation of your ECM.
Thanks,
-DB
ANSWER: Keep in mind that this is the global business cycle and not based an individual country. Therefore, we have peaks in one country and bottoms in another on the same turning point. For example, the 1994.25 turning point was the peak in the economies of Southeast Asia. Even when things do not line up precisely to the day with the ECM, the trend changes regardless. The turning point was March 1994 and here we turned in February. The correction at the end of 1998 was the Long-Term Capital Management collapse that was instigated by the loss in emerging markets, namely Russian bonds. I warned them that emerging markets peaked in 1994 and the capital flows shifted. They would not listen, invested in Russia because they assumed they bought the IMF, and when it all blew up they blamed me.
I have published this list of panics that I had discovered while doing research in the Firestone Library at Princeton University. Note that the first one listed was 1683, which was the Turkish invasion to conquer Veinna (the capital of the Holy Roman Empire at that time). It ended Austria as a financial center. Note 1720, which was the South Sea Bubble in Britain and the Mississippi Bubble in France. The list that led me to the discovery of the Economic Confidence Model was international. Therefore, the business cycle I discovered was INTERNATIONAL, and by that very nature it means that when one nation peaks, another bottoms.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha hold a joint press conference following a trilateral debriefing of ongoing negotiations with the U.S. and North Korea.
[Transcript] FOREIGN MINISTER KONO: Thank you. It is my glad pleasure to welcome Secretary Mike Pompeo and Minister Kang Kyung-wha to Tokyo for this trilateral foreign ministers’ meeting. The last time we gathered in Seoul was less than a month ago, immediately after U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore. The timing and the frequency of the meeting have enabled smooth and effective trilateral coordination; its outcome could then be fed into the process between the U.S. and North Korea.
The responsibility Secretary Pompeo assumed after the summit in Singapore is very significant, and Minister Kang and I stand hand-in-hand with Secretary Pompeo to support him all the way till the end.
I would also like to pay tribute to the earnest effort by Minister Kang to serve as a bridge between U.S. and North Korea. Her effort has paved the way for the subsequent summit in Singapore.
Today, we were able to reaffirm our unwavering commitment to continue strengthening of our trilateral cooperation towards the common goal of North Korea’s complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement of all weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles of all ranges.
We have also had in-depth discussion on how we can cooperate to urge North Korea to take concrete actions towards the full implementation of relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, and we confirmed that security assurance will be provided to North Korea, as agreed in the summit in Singapore.
At the same time, we have reaffirmed that international community will continue to fully implement relevant UN Security Council resolutions in order to materialize CVID. Japan continues to seek normalize its relations with North Korea in accordance with Pyongyang Declaration through comprehensively resolving outstanding issues of concern such as nuclear missile and abductions issue, as well as through the settlement of the unfortunate past.
We wish to initiate a new start for our relations with North Korea. Japan is determined to continue playing a major role in realizing peace and stability in Northeast Asia in close coordination with United States and ROK. In this regard, I am very much looking forward to continue working closely with both Secretary Pompeo and Minister Kang in coming month.
Thank you very much.
MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Now let us invite Secretary Mike Pompeo. Secretary, please.
SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you. It’s an honor to be here on my first trip to Tokyo as the Secretary of State for the United States of America, and I am thrilled to be here. Thank you, Foreign Minister Kono, for hosting me. Foreign Minister Kang, thank you so much for all the help you have provided me in the days since the Singapore summit.
Before I talk about North Korea, I want to say that we are closely following the news of the flooding and landslides that are hitting western Japan. The United States expresses its deep condolences to the families of those who died, and we send our thoughts and prayers to the families who are injured or missing. To our Japanese friends, the American people stand with you as you recover from this tragedy.
As we build on the momentum of President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un’s historic summit, the United States, the Republic of Korea, and Japan continue to strengthen our trilateral cooperation to achieve the goals set out in Singapore. To that very end, today’s meeting was a top priority after my talks in North Korea these past days.
Over two days, my team and I met with Vice Minister Chairman Kim Jong-ul – chul – Kim Yong-chul and his colleagues. We had good-faith, productive conversations which will continue in the days and weeks ahead. In the meantime, sanctions remain in place, and we will continue to enforce them with great vigor.
During the visit, we intended to build upon the agreements made by President Trump and Chairman Kim, and we made progress. But first let me make clear North Korea reaffirmed its commitment to complete denuclearization. We had detailed and substantive discussions about the next steps towards a fully verified and complete denuclearization.
In addition, North Korea agreed to meet in mid-July in Panmunjom to discuss the repatriation of remains of our American service members. North Korea also reaffirmed its earlier commitment to destroy its missile engine test site, which will make the region and the world safer. We also established a working-level team that will carry out the day-to-day work of our two sides.
Yep, the road ahead will be difficult and challenging, and we know critics will try to minimize the work that we’ve achieved. But our allies, like the Republic of Korea and Japan, President Trump and I believe that peace is worth the effort. And that’s something that we all want. As allies we share and are committed to the same goal – the fully verified, final denuclearization of North Korea, as agreed to by Chairman Kim Jong-un.
As President Trump has said, there is no limit to what North Korea can achieve if it gives up its nuclear weapons. Should the DPRK follow through on its commitments, we look forward to eventually helping North Korea obtain prosperity and earn the respect of the world; however, North Korea will first have to fulfill its commitments to denuclearize. Sanctions will remain in place until final, fully verified denuclearization, as agreed to by Chairman Kim, occurs. Multiple UN Security Council resolutions unanimously passed require all nations to fully enforce those sanctions. Our three countries will continue to be vocal in reminding each country of its obligations to do so.
And so while we are encouraged by the progress of these talks, progress alone does not justify the relaxation of the existing sanctions regime. There is also no change to our ironclad commitment to the defense of our allies, the Republic of Korea and Japan. The security of our allies is integral to our American security. The United States looks forward to continuing our close coordination with Japan and South Korea as we achieve the successful implementation of the agreement that was achieved at the Singapore summit.
Thank you.
MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Lastly, let us invite Minister Kang Kyung-wha. Minister, please.
FOREIGN MINISTER KANG: Thank you very much. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen of the press. It is indeed a distinct honor for me to be here with Secretary of State Mr. Mike Pompeo and my Japanese counterpart, Foreign Minister Taro Kono, here in Tokyo so soon after Secretary Pompeo’s third visit to Pyongyang.
But first of all, let me also reiterate the sentiment expressed by Secretary Pompeo about the terrible losses caused by the torrential rain and flooding in western Japan. Our thoughts are very much with the families and communities affected by this climactic event, and we wish them, the government, swift recovery and our greatest sympathies to the families affected.
Secretary Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang, his third one, this visit having taken place in follow-up to the historic U.S.-North Korea summit, has been a productive starting point for implementing the agreements reached between President Trump and Chairman Kim in Singapore. Today’s meeting among the three of us underscores the unwavering commitment on the part of our three countries to achieve the shared goal of complete denuclearization and the establishment of lasting peace and – on the Korean Peninsula.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude and admiration to Secretary Pompeo for his tireless efforts to advance the dialogue with North Korea with a great deal of patient and deep commitment to turning this historic opportunity into reality of a nuclear-free, peaceful Korean Peninsula.
At today’s meeting, Secretary Pompeo explained to us in detail the results of his visit to North Korea and gave us a good sense of the work going forward, including the meeting scheduled at Panmunjom on July 12th regarding the return of the POW/MIA remains, but for further consultations to be had with North Korea going forward.
In the two rounds of the inter-Korean summits and last month’s U.S.-North Korea summit, the three leaders clearly set the direction towards our shared goal, and Secretary Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang this time has taken the first steps in that direction. And we expect there to be – these to be followed up by further constructive and productive negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea, and the Republic of Korea stands ready to provide whatever assistance is needed to move the dialogue along.
The Security Council sanctions, as we have agreed in our trilateral meeting, will remain in place and faithfully implemented until we are assured of complete denuclearization by North Korea. North Korea’s denuclearization and provision of security guarantees and economic development that it desires must move together in our joint efforts to chart a brighter future towards lasting peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and indeed beyond in this region.
This was the blueprint set forth in President Moon’s speech in Berlin a year ago, as well as the vision that President Trump and Chairman Kim agreed to in Singapore. And therefore, it is thus in the interest of all that we move forward expeditiously in this endeavor.
We have also confirmed once again that the ROK-U.S. alliance is firm and strong and will remain so during this process of North Korea’s denuclearization. We have made it clear that decisions to suspend certain parts of the ROK-U.S. joint military exercises, including the UFG, has been taken jointly with the aim of encouraging North Korea to actively and expeditiously engage in the denuclearization process, and that our combined defense posture will remain ironclad. Our two countries will continue to maintain watertight coordination in any and all issues related to the ROK-U.S. alliance.
In closing, may I once thank again my counterparts, Minister Kono and Secretary Pompeo, for the show of solidarity that our three countries have maintained as we have and will continue to engage on the issue of North Korea’s complete denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.
Thank you very much.
MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Now we would like to move on to the Q&A session. Those who wish to make – ask a question, please raise your hand. Upon my appointing, please move to the nearest microphone and identify yourself with your name and media outlet.
Please kindly be advised to make your questions succinct. Now the floor is open. The lady in the front seat.
QUESTION: Thank you. This is Ryo Kiyomiya from Asahi Shimbun, Japanese newspaper company. I have two questions. First, I would like to ask each of you, recently the U.S. defines its goal as final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea instead of CVID – complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization. It seems softer than CVID. My question is: Will the U.S., Japan, and South Korea continue to work towards CVID of North Korea? And what do you think is the difference between CVID and final, fully verified denuclearization?
And my second question is about the abduction issue of the Japanese. Secretary Pompeo, you said you raised the abduction issue of the Japanese during your visit to North Korea. We would like to know the detail and response from North Korea. Secretary and Minister Kang, how will the U.S. and South Korea work with Japan on this abduction issue?
(Via interpreter) And my question is to Minister Kono regarding the Japanese policy on countering or reacting to these issues. Thank you.
FOREIGN MINISTER KONO: (Via interpreter) First, I would like to respond to your question. With respect to related resolutions of the Security Council, it clearly stipulates that North Korea must dismantle in a method – complete and verifiable, irreversible method dismantle the WMD as well as the ballistic missiles. So it is clearly stipulated that CVID is demanded in the resolutions.
As far as we are concerned, we would like to continue to work toward North Korea so that North Korea would completely implement the Security Council’s resolution. We are completely in agreement on that.
In terms of the international community, we are in agreement. For me, see, instead of CVID denuclearization of Korean Peninsula, sometimes I refer to this phrase. But even in doing so, what I mean is to look toward the dismantlement of all weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles of all ranges, at least as Security Council stipulates certain goals. And that should be solidly implemented by North Korea, and we have to demand North Korea to do that. We have – we are unchanged in that goal. So the words may be different and there is no much – not much significance in the different phrases and words that we may use.
Now on the question of abduction, from Secretary Pompeo this time around the issue was raised, and I’d like to thank him for raising the issue at the meeting. Regarding the reaction from North Korea, I will refrain from making any comment.
As far as Japan is concerned, the U.S. and North Korean negotiations should advance furthermore, and we’d like to work in tandem with the international community so that Security Council resolution-based sanction can be solidly implemented regarding North Korea.
Thank you.
FOREIGN MINISTER KANG: Yes. Should I go?
SECRETARY POMPEO: Yes, sure. Go ahead.
FOREIGN MINISTER KANG: Well, I think our goal remains complete denuclearization, and I think the FFVD, as used by Secretary Pompeo, isn’t any softer in stating our shared goal of complete denuclearization. Obviously, terms have historical context, and this has been somewhat difficult for North Korea to signed onto in written form, but we are assured that Mr. Pompeo’s engagement with the North Koreans have been very, very clear on what complete denuclearization means and how to get from here to complete denuclearization, which means the complete dismantlement of the weapons, the materials, the facilities, the plans. This is a very clearly-set goal for North Korea, and we expect them to deliver on this commitment to complete denuclearization.
On the abduction issue, yes, my president has also raised this in two rounds of discussions with Chairman Kim, and we urge them to engage in bilateral discussions with Japan on this issue. After all, it’s a bilateral issue. We also have a couple of our nationals detained in North Korea, so it’s an issue that concerns us as well.
Thank you.
SECRETARY POMPEO: I think my two colleagues answered your first question very clearly. There is no difference. But most importantly is what the North Koreans understand. We had lengthy discussions about the scope of what complete denuclearization means over the past two days. They acknowledge that this is broad; this is, as my two colleagues have said, from weapons systems to fissile material to the production facilities, enrichment facilities, across the range of weapons and missiles. It’s a broad definition of denuclearization. The North Koreans understand that and have not challenged that.
Second, they also understand that denuclearization makes no sense absent verification, and they acknowledge that as well. There will be a verification connected to the complete denuclearization. It’s what President Trump and Chairman Kim both agreed to. And so folks can try and parse words should they choose to do so. What’s most important is what the North Koreans understand and the demands that the world is making of North Korea, and there can be – it’s unmistakable, the scope of what denuclearization means to the North Koreans. I’ve been very clear with them.
Second, I did raise the issue of the abduction of Japanese. I’ve done it at each conversation I’ve had with my North Korean counterparts, whether it was on my first two trips with Chairman Kim or on this trip with Kim Yong-chul. I’ve raised it repeatedly. I won’t go into any of the details about particular parts of that element of our discussion. Know that it is important to the United States; it’s part of our discussions each and every time we interact with our North Korean counterparts.
MODERATOR: Second question. Gentleman in front of the microphone, please.
QUESTION: Hi, Mr. Secretary. Thank you very much for hosting this. I’m David Clark from Agence France-Presse, AFP. Following your talks yesterday, Mr. Secretary, the North Koreans issued a statement in which they described your demands as gangster-like and insisted that there be a series of political and economic concessions hand-in-hand with the progress towards denuclearization. You have said that maximum pressure will continue until this denuclearization, as you define it, is complete.
Is there any scope for concessions en route, or will they simply have to accept denuclearization before you can move towards sanctions relief and political settlement of the Korean War and so forth, the other demands that they have? Thank you.
SECRETARY POMPEO: So —
QUESTION: Oh, and given what they’ve said, how can you continue to say that you believe they are negotiating in good faith?
SECRETARY POMPEO: Because they were. And they did. It’s pretty simple. So look, people are going to make certain comments after meetings. If I paid attention to what the press said, I’d go nuts, and I refuse to do that. I am determined to achieve the commitment that President Trump made, and I am counting on Chairman Kim to be determined to follow through on the commitment that he made. And so if those requests were gangster-like, they are – the world is a gangster, because there was a unanimous decision at the UN Security Council about what needs to be achieved.
The second point, as we move forward, we have been very clear there were three parts of the agreement in the Singapore summit. There were the establishment of peaceful relations between the countries, increased security assurances to North Korea and its people, and finally, denuclearization. Each of those needs to be conducted in parallel. We need to work on those efforts simultaneously. And so it is absolutely the case that there are places where there will be things that take place along the way that help achieve the security assurances that the North Koreans need and improvement in the peaceful relations between our two countries during the time that denuclearization is taking place.
But the economic sanctions are a different kettle of fish altogether. The economic sanctions and the continued enforcement – so the world will see continued enforcement actions by the United States in the days and weeks ahead, and I’m counting on those other countries that are with me here today and others around the world to continue to enforce these sanctions as well. The enforcement of those sanctions will continue until denuclearization is complete.
MODERATOR: Due to the time constraint, I would like to make the next question the last one. Madam, please.
QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Hello, I am Yoon Seol-Young from JoongAng Daily, JTBC. Secretary Pompeo, you mentioned how you saw many progress in almost all central issues, however North Korea stated that the United States had unilateral position and it expressed regrets for that. Secretary Pompeo, you highlighted FFVD, so I would like to know what reaction North Korea showed to this.
And we believe that there were also other discussions. So regarding declaration of North Korea’s nuclear missile facilities and stockpiles and also timeline to denuclearization, how much achievement have you achieved?
And finally, you did not meet Chairman Kim Jong-un this time around. Is there any particular reason for that?
SECRETARY POMPEO: With respect to progress, you again referred to the statements after the event. I was there for the event. I know actually what precisely took place. When we spoke to them about the scope of denuclearization, they did not push back. It wasn’t my language; it was the language of Chairman Kim. He committed to complete denuclearization.
The commitment that Chairman Kim made is important and powerful, and I am convinced that he understands the commitment he made, and I am hopeful that we will find a path forward to achieve that commitment that Chairman Kim himself made personally to President Trump and then to world in the signed agreement between our two leaders.
With respect to timeline, we talked about timeline a great deal during our conversations. There’s still much work to do to establish what the precise timeline for the various events will be, and we talked about it in the context of the continued commitment of North Korea to destroy their missile engine test site, a commitment that they reaffirmed yesterday and told us that it would happen at a time that was important. And we told them important would be soon, and I am hopeful that that will take place soon. It will be an important event along the step towards denuclearization. It will be a good step towards fulfilling their goal.
And then your final question was about the fact that I did not meet with Chairman Kim Jong-un on this trip. It was never anticipated that I would meet with him. We went there to work with Kim Yong-chul and our two teams to work together over the course of two days. We did just that.
MODERATOR: This concludes the joint press conference. Thank you very much.
British officials are desperate to keep Nigel Farage and President Trump separate during the state visit next Thursday and Friday. [::snicker::… you know what that means… nudge, nudge… wink, wink… say-no-more, say no more] Mr. Nigel Farage discusses the current U.K. climate that awaits President Trump.
One of the funniest damn tweets in the history of twitter!!
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