Before
US - North Korea Talks, Media
Invites Mocked As Mere Money
Then Reduced, UN Marginal
By Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS,
May 15 – On the North Korea -
US talks, US President Donald
Trump on May 10 tweeted
"The highly anticipated
meeting between Kim Jong Un
and myself will take place in
Singapore on June 12th. We
will both try to make it a
very special moment for World
Peace!" Inner City Press
previously asked UN Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric if it would
play any role - no answer -
and on May 9 asked him if the
UN had played any role at all
in the release of the three
American hostages by North
Korea earlier in the day. No,
Dujarric said, before laughing
after a Press question about
hindered humanitarian aid and
calling Inner City Press
"self-centered." Video here.
On May 12, Kim's state media
KCNA announced that North
Korea's "Nuclear Weapon
Institute and other concerned
institutions are taking
technical measures for
dismantling the northern
nuclear test ground ... in
order to ensure transparency
of discontinuance of the
nuclear test." Media from five
countries - including the UK
but not Japan - were invited.
Japan's right wing Sankei
Shimbun, which routinely
misses North Korea news at the
UN in favor of fluff about
Kanye West and its reporter
Mayu Uetsuka's laundry and
jogging in the park, snarked
that "The
dismantling of
the nuclear
test site may
just be
another
theatrical
performance to
the outside
world... It
seems that North Korea wants
foreign currency under the
premise of inviting foreign
media." But now an expert opines
that "only four media (two US
TV, one ROK TV, one ROK text)
100% confirmed going to North
Korea to observe demolition of
Pyungye-ri. Many media invited
have had invites rescinded
with no real reason given." So
does Sankei stand by its
statement this is all about
getting foreign currency?
Trump back on May 8 while
withdrawing from the Iran Deal
announced that Mike Pompeo was
on his way to North Korea and
would be there in an hour's
time. Trump said he was
hopeful the US hostages would
be released and that
withdrawal from the Iran Deal
would make America safer.
Meanwhile Kim Jong Un has
flown to the Chinese city of
Dalian and met Xi Jiping.
Along with a seaside walk, the
talk was of synchronized and
mutual steps with the US,
probably not what Trump wants
to hear. South Korea's Yonhap
and Chosun have both reported
the talks will take place in
Singapore in the June, most
probably the third week in
June. It is noted that Trump
often reverses course - it
could be earlier, in the DMZ
in Panmunjom, or even not at
all, depending on how the
meeting is pre-spun. Either
way, it seems the UN remains
on the sidelines, despite
intermittent claims of
relevance from UN Secretary
General Antonio Guterres and
his yet to be seen new head of
the Department of Political
Affairs. Inner City Press,
which previously shared a UN office
with Chosun Ilbo prior to
being evicted
for exposing the UN's bribery
by Ng Lap Seng and now Patrick
Ho, was told she'd start on
May 1. Also as the Trump - Kim
talks approach, the
constellation of those
opposing or seeking to
undercut them extends from
self-styled diplomatic experts
in Washington to decadent and
ill-informed pro-Abe Japanese
scribes in New York. The
former include politicians who
while first claiming diplomacy
was being killed now say it it
moving too fast. The latter
published, in Sankei Shimbun
alone, two separate stories
about the May 3 event at the
UN in which as Inner City
Press reported
amid other news a professor
from Tufts University said
Japan's colonial rule of Korea
was better than that of the
Kims. Of this, Sankei's Mayu
Uetsuka who was not even there
wrote that “Mr. Kaichiro
Iizuka (41), the eldest son of
Mr. Yaeko Taguchi (62) = Same
(22) =, said the mother was
one year old when she was
kidnapped, "I have no memory
of touching my mother ". While
attention is being paid to
nuclear and missile issues, he
said, 'Do not forget the
abduction issue that human
beings are being threatened,
human lives should not be
lighter than nuclear weapons
and missiles.'” Meanwhile the
same Uetsuka, unconcerned with
human lives other than her
own, bragged
about renting an apartment on
the Upper West Side there is
no washing machine in the
room. At first I was looking
for a property with "washing
machine" at the rental site,
but I could not find it in the
desired area in the budget.
New York has many old
buildings, so there are no
washing machines only about
30% of the property. Piping
around the water is not in
place, it is also difficult to
purchase and install a washing
machine yourself. There is a
laundry room in the building
and it will be shared with
neighbors. From friends, I
heard that there are some
Americans who are washing
shoes and they snatch, but
they will have to get used to
it. In the life of the United
States, insensitive dullness
which does not care a little
is trained. The room I live in
is also puzzled by the
appearance of the next
apartment from the window, but
it gradually ceased to matter.
Let's start a jog at Central
Park for a diet.” No, it's
time to be replaced, putting
out for old reports, throwing
away real information for a
self-promoting bartender
typist, on May 15 typing slews
of quotes about Gaza most
certain not to be used, unlike
under Jun Kurosawa: Kevin
Pinner, claiming he “named
products, generated slogans
and ideas for marketing
campaigns” for Chinavision.
These days Pinner sits
elsewhere in the bullpen,
ordered to type information
that Sankei will never
publish; Mayu Uetsuka most
recently tried to promote
New York ads for Hitachi,
Panasonic, Shimizu
Corporation, and Daikin
Industries. We will have more
on this.
***
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