'Maximum pressure had worked': Pence's memoir reveals how Trump dealt with North Korea-苹果im虚拟机

'Maximum pressure had worked': Pence's memoir reveals how Trump dealt with North Korea

2024-06-11 16:25:45

Kim Yo-jong,<strong></strong> top right, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, sits behind U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, bottom left, as they watch the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, in this Feb. 9, 2018, file photo. Yonhap

Kim Yo-jong, top right, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, sits behind U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, bottom left, as they watch the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, in this Feb. 9, 2018, file photo. Yonhap

Ex-US VP and son of Korean War veteran believes 'fire and fury' forced Kim to ask for talks

By Jung Min-ho

North Korea had long been the master of its own game: The regime knew exactly how to get what it wanted through war threats while suggesting it would give up its nuclear weapons while seeming to have no intention of actually doing so.

However, when the Trump administration reacted differently to Pyongyang's renewed bombast and threats with far more serious and realistic consequences involving the world's most powerful military, the North was clearly "shaken" and started seeking negotiations, according to the memoir of former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.

"Applying maximum pressure had worked. President Trump's willingness to answer threats with counter-threats of 'fire and fury' had worked," Pence, 63, said in the book, "So Help Me God," published last month. "Kim Jong-un came to the negotiating table and never returned to the missile-testing and nuclear threats while we were in office."

In the 500-page book, which traces his life in politics, Pence, the son of a Korean War (1950-53) veteran, recounts the administration's effort to deal with threats from the North, which was conducting a series of missile tests during his early months in office.

Military tensions reached a peak when North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear weapons test on Sept. 3, 2017. It came just a month after Trump's warning that, with further threats, the North "will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen." Asked whether the U.S. government would take military action later, Trump said, "We'll see."

Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence signs copies of his new memoir, "So Help Me God," at Garden Sanctuary Church of God in Rock Hill, South Carolina, the U.S. Dec. 6. AP-Yonhap

Both Trump and Pence were determined not to back down and North Korea might have felt it. North Korea suddenly appeared to try to ease the tension it helped create, Pence recalled. South Korea was going to host the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang soon, with former President Moon Jae-in eager to make it a "peace Olympics." Pence became increasingly sure of Trump's way of dealing with North Korea.

"Sometimes the most reasonable thing is to be unreasonable … It was clear, though, by his willingness to talk with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, that Kim was rattled by Trump. For years his family had played the U.S. and world leaders perfectly," he said. "Now there was an unpredictable U.S. president, and the North Koreans were worried … When President Trump spoke to our global adversaries, he wasn't afraid to talk trash or make threats, but I always had the impression that it was because he understood who he was dealing with. I think he intuitively knew how to make his point in a way they would understand."

Pence also revealed that he was uncomfortable with Moon's attempt to arrange PR stunts. Pence was worried it would politically benefit North Korea and said that was the reason he deliberately went to the VIP banquet later than scheduled.

"As choreographed by Moon, both the North Koreans and I were at the head table. A group photograph was arranged at the outset of the banquet. Both [Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe and I arrived intentionally late and didn't participate," he said. "It was evident that he [Moon] wanted to politely force a meeting between [North Korea's] Kim Yong-nam and me. That would have been a huge symbolic victory for North Korea. No chance. Moon walked Abe and me and our wives into the banquet hall, guiding us toward Kim. I kept my distance, though, shook hands with every other leader in the room, and then walked out the door."

Pence said the North Korean government was making back-channel overtures to him about having a meeting there. But two hours before a meeting with North Korean officials was set to be held, it was canceled probably because of his refusal to engage with Kim Yo-jong in front of the media's cameras, which possibly "irritated" her brother and North Korean leader Kim.

However, eventually, Kim Jong-un sent a letter to Trump through the South Korean delegation. Kim wanted to speak face-to-face with Trump and, as a precondition of the dialogue, he offered to suspend North Korea's missile tests and nuclear program.

"It was proof that the North Koreans had been shaken. From punishing sanctions to Trump's tough, even shocking talk of 'fire and fury' to our strong posture during the Olympics, the administration had exerted maximum pressure on the Hermit Kingdom, and its leaders were unsure how to react," Pence said. "Weakness arouses evil … Our administration created a pathway for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

（作者：汽车音响）

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