There has been no confirmation from the US that sanctions have been lifted. The two leaders met on Tuesday and signing a brief declaration on denuclearization and reducing tensions.
Sputnik spoke to Joseph Essertier associate professor at the Nagoya Institute of Technology about the confusion surrounding the sanctions.
Sputnik: What do you make of the coverage of by North Korean state media of the summit?
Joseph Essertier: I think it’s good to see there’s a dialogue going on now between the governments of the US and North Korea but unfortunately there is still little dialogue on a grassroots level between Americans and North Koreans because the country is in a state of war and has been continuously since the 1930’s. Bruce Cumings the American historian has described North Korean as a garrison state and it’s been like that for a number of decades now. What I hope that happens next is there is a peace treaty and the country will be opened up and the siege of sanctions will end and American will stop threatening them.
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Sputnik: There seems to be some confusion about the sanctions with yesterday Trump saying they remain and North Korea claiming they’re gone, where do they stand on this now then?
Joseph Essertier: it’s not very clear. North Korea will of course be demanding that the sanctions be lifted. The way Trump said it yesterday, it sounded like he was open to the idea. We might see some changes in the coming weeks and months in that area. The sanctions have been crippling. There have been sanctions in place continuously for several decades. Unfortunately the mass media has been focusing on North Korean government human rights violations without looking at America’s human rights violations in North Korea and the legality of the sanctions and the legality of the sanctions the United Nations cooperated with.
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Sputnik: What do you make of the reaction by North Korea’s neighbours to the summit with Shinzo Abe saying no concrete steps have been taken?
Joseph Essertier: I think Moon Jae-in really deserves a lot of credit. He has praised Trump a lot. To an extent Trump has pushed Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong–un into each other’s arms, but that’s not necessarily the best way to go about things. All of us owe a great deal and should show some gratitude towards Moon Jae-in because he was elected by the people of the candlelight revolution in South Korea who deposed Park Geun-hye the previous president. We should feel thankful towards South Koreans in general and also especially moon Jae-in for his consistent wise and skilled diplomacy.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.