North Korea will not give up its nuclear weapons because they are Pyongyang’s only option to defend itself against American aggression, an American political analyst and activist says.
Myles Hoenig, a former Green Party candidate for Congress, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Saturday while commenting on the North Korean leader’s invitation to US President Donald Trump to a historic summit.
On Friday, US Vice President Mike Pence claimed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s invitation to Trump shows that the American strategy to isolate Pyongyang is working.
“With certain brain injuries one can be affected with color blindness, seeing things as drab or missing certain hues. That doesn’t mean that the color is not there. Vice President Pence may be suffering the same kind of political color blindness. He sees US pressure, big sticks and no carrots, as the reason for Kim Jong-un’s invitation to President Trump to meet face to face and discuss denuclearization,” Hoenig told Press TV.
“What might be happening is that Trump is being played by the North Koreans. What is ‘denuclearization’? Would Kim be coming to the talks if it were completely one-sided? He and his regime are not suicidal,” he added.
“For their perspective, the only option North Korea has to defend itself against US aggression is nuclear weapons. Kim has seen what is done with leaders of other countries that cannot fight back, such as not being a nuclear power. Iraq and Afghanistan have been destroyed by US imperialism. Saddam Hussein was hanged and the Taliban were deposed. Libya was doing all the West had asked of it but as soon as [former Libyan leader Muammar] Gaddafi started talking about a single currency for Africa not based on the US dollar, his country was invaded and he was butchered to death,” the analyst said.
“At this point we don’t know what Kim is referring to but based on what their grievances are, it’s a sure bet that denuclearization includes South Korea and removal or scaling back of the US fleet that has been engaged in war games for many years. Whether it refers to a peace agreement is not likely but certainly one he could propose, knowing it would be dismissed while his other concerns taken more seriously,” he noted.
“Whether it be Trump or Pence, we have two rubes in power in DC who can be easily manipulated due to their combined ignorance and overall arrogance. Maybe the wild card is really the US military. Would it stand for de-escalation of the peninsula?” the commentator asked.