The recently anticipated meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un was thought to be more favorable to North Korea.
Democrats and other skeptics claimed that Trump gained nothing from the meeting. Trump had claimed it was a victory for the U.S. and said that he had now paved the way for peace.
However in North Korea the people rejoiced as Kim seemed to have outsmarted the President, at least for now.
The U.S. had pulled out of any further war games with South Korea an expected Kim to continue his denuclearization process.
But it seemed that Kim may not be about to keep his word and meeting Trump may have just been a power move.
No Denuclearization?
After the summit between the two men Trump claimed they were working toward peace and a Peninsula free of nuclear weapons.
“We’re ready to write a new chapter between our Nations,” Trump said shortly after the summit. He had called his meeting with Kim “honest, direct and productive.”
Now new images recently taken showed that North Korea have made upgrades to a cooling system for plutonium production. This signaled that Kim was still intent on making weapons, a contradiction to Trump’s comments.
The White House at this point didn’t respond to the revelation.
Played?
Could there now be a possibility that the President was played? Did he play into Kim’s hand giving him some sort of leverage on the International stage as a big player?
Russia had also reached out to Kim, something that should have possibly triggered red flags but didn’t seem to.
Now the images had shown that the summit may have just been for show as the agreement between the two men was possibly not being adhered to by North Korea.
The monitoring group claimed that the ongoing upgrade should not be directly tied to the agreement made by the two men.
Despite that claim it was still cause for concern as the summit had already taken place and some sort of agreement was reached.
“North Korea is not obligated to any specific actions as of yet, but (these images) certainly underscore the importance of continuing negotiations, and getting a detailed agreement in place to freeze North Korea’s nuclear program,” said Jenny Town. “This is the true test of the Trump administration, to now see if they have the will and ability to do the hard work needed to move past lofty goals to practical and sustainable solutions.”
Town, a researcher and managing editor at 38 North made these statements in an email.