Some Far East news items

Submitted by soryang on Wed, 11/27/2024 - 9:18pm

Alex Wong

Trump's nomination for deputy national security adviser

Trump taps former North Korea summit negotiator to be deputy national security adviser

US President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Alex Wong, who engaged in working-level talks with North Korea during his first presidential term, to serve as deputy national security adviser.

Trump’s nomination of an individual who played a key role in the two US-North Korea summits as the White House’s national security line-up’s No. 2 is prompting speculation as to whether issues surrounding North Korea will take priority for the upcoming Trump administration.

Trump announced the decision to tap Wong as deputy national security adviser in a statement on Friday, noting that Wong served as deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs and as the deputy special representative for North Korea during his first term, as well as being the nominee for UN representative for special political affairs.

Trump emphasized Wong’s expertise in North Korean affairs by saying, “As Deputy Special Representative for North Korea, he helped negotiate my summit with North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un.”

The Washington insider you never heard of? I followed the talks with North Korea as closely as I possible could in US and South Korean media. I never heard of this guy. Additionally, as the deputy working group special representative under Stephen Biegun, mostly their function was reeling in South Korea, who were eager to stabilize, if not normalize, relations with North Korea, and reestablish business, cultural and diplomatic ties to the extent possible. The working group blocked these overtures as much as they could, even to the extent of threatening sanctions against South Korea (imo). This is the conclusion I reached in observing their activity.

I'm not impressed with Wong's resume. He's a typical Washington DC inside the blob character. The truth is, both Andrew (Sung hyun) Kim, the CIA station chief in Seoul, and Sung Kim, a professional diplomat, former ambassador to South Korea, former six party talks negotiator, etc., etc., were imo way more influential than Wong. Wong is a hard right hawk though, anti-China as they get. Looking at his resume, I regard him as a jack of all trades in DC, and master of none. So he really is not an upgrade by any means to the white house national security staff. Sung hyun Kim (Andrew) is probably no less hawkish as Wong, as Pompeo's side kick negotiating with Kim Jong-eun. Sung Y. Kim as Biden's appointee has accomplished nothing w/r/t to North Korea, which is unfortunate. The Biden approach has been too blunt to accomplish anything diplomatically. Trump's team from his earlier administration poisoned the well, and the blob in DC was happy with that outcome.

Here's some speculation in Hankyoreh on what the dynamics of a renewed summit negotiation process might look like with the incoming Trump administration:

What to expect from a possible ‘Season 2’ of Trump-Kim summits

Maybe advisors like Wong, Waltz, and Rubio think they are going to drive some wedges among China and Russia, and North Korea in northeast Asia, with this approach. I don't think such an approach will be very productive.

Tim posted this analysis below, which I don't necessarily agree with. First of all the Indo-Pacific region, covers half the earth. Secondly, the US doesn't have enough carriers to cover all the troubles around the world it has been fueling.

This is a beautiful song. Azuma Aki singing a Japanese tune, the title of which I'm unable to translate. But from the Korean translation, it's about nostalgia for youth and the experiences with family in one's home town. This is a major cultural theme in Korea as well.

NHK had an article of the "trend" for South Koreans to come out of the closet and publicly enjoy Japanese popular music, particularly oldies from the seventies and eighties and claimed there is a "new sophistication" among South Koreans to distinguish between culture and politics. I'm not sure this is a grass roots development, as it happens during the most pro Japanese administration since the Park Chung-hee dictatorship.

Hope everyone here at C99 has a great Thanksgiving holiday!

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Comments

Submitted by Mickt on Wed, 11/27/2024 - 10:12pm

They are creating something out of thin air to slam Trump. They don't know or care who the guy is. But if you say this guy Trump picks might actually not spit every time he mentions North Korea, then it makes Trump look bad.

It is why we have so many wars and so few positive examples of nation building.

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Submitted by QMS on Wed, 11/27/2024 - 10:25pm
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@Mickt
.
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where developing strategic relations is paramount
somehow the west doesn't get it
our lose - lose approach is dysfunctional
I guess it is how empires die

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Submitted by soryang on Thu, 11/28/2024 - 5:00am
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@Mickt

This is a puff piece in the Hankyoreh that I've cited, that basically says Wong is the greatest. Hankyoreh is not US media. I'm criticizing that view. Secondly, the comments critical of Trump's choice are my own, and are my own opinion as a long time independent observer. Wong and people like him were responsible for the failure of talks with North Korea.

Here's an example of a misleading line in the Hankyoreh-

After Stephen Biegun, the US special representative for North Korea, became the US deputy secretary of state in 2019, Wong became the primary overseer of all North Korean affairs as Biegun’s deputy.

At that point, after the Feb. 2019 disaster of "sometimes you gotta walk," in Hanoi, relations with North Korea were DOA.

More:

... Wong has engaged with South Korean government officials in South Korea-US working group talks and negotiations for senior delegates for nuclear talks with North Korea while also discussing a wide range of issues related to North Korea such as inter-Korean projects including individual tourism to the North and reconnecting railways and roads between the Koreas.

In fact, the working group did all it could block these South Korean efforts.

Rep. Michael Waltz, Wong’s future boss, posted on X, formerly Twitter, to say, “Alex has a proven record of delivering results during President Trump’s first term where he helped negotiate the historic summits with Kim Jong Un that stabilized relations. He will have an essential role in helping keep America safe!”

North Korea resumed ballistic missile testing in May 2019 after the failed "all or nothing, Libyan style" negotiations championed by the neo-cons. This was punctuated by Trump's PR act at Panmunjom in June of that year, which was wholly lacking in substance.

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Submitted by humphrey on Wed, 11/27/2024 - 10:24pm

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Submitted by The Liberal Moonbat on Thu, 11/28/2024 - 3:29pm
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Additionally, as the deputy working group special representative under Stephen Biegun, mostly their function was reeling in South Korea, who were eager to stabilize, if not normalize, relations with North Korea, and reestablish business, cultural and diplomatic ties to the extent possible. The working group blocked these overtures as much as they could, even to the extent of threatening sanctions against South Korea (imo).

"Sanctions, eh...?"
Vladimir-Putin-smile-sunglasses.jpg

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