This June, President Trump met with Kim Jong Un, the first meeting between the leaders of the two countries in history. Despite promises of denuclearize and President Trump's claims that "There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea," U.S. intelligence has since concluded that since the meeting, North Korea has continued developing its nuclear arsenal in secret. It briefly looked as if Trump was responding to the lack of denuclearization when he cancelled the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo's, visit to North Korea three weeks ago. However, today, the white house has announced a new trip for the president himself to visit in the near future. The president gave no explicit reason for his change in approach, but his personal motives seem clear from what he does say. "[Kim] said some terrific things about me," Trump said. "He said very strongly that we want to denuclearize North Korea during President Trump's tenure," Trump told his supporters in Billings. Clearly, flattery goes a long way with our current president, but the consequences are yet to be seen. North Korea has requested a formal end to the Korean war as a reward for their steps toward peace, and considering Trump's unpredictable nature, they may very well get it while having done nearly nothing to lessen their own nuclear threat.
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/13/politics/trump-north-korea-nuclear-threat/index.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-coordinating-second-trump-kim-summit/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/kim-jong-un-sends-letter-to-trump-seeking-second-summit-white-house-says/2018/09/10/97b36246-b52b-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7a72f0df7de5
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-preparing-for-second-trump-meeting-with-north-koreas-leader-1536607841
3 comments:
I share your skepticism with the 'progress' being made with North Korean denuclearization - there is a very predictable pattern of bait and switching that North Korea has done to not only the USA but also to the UN and the IAEA(International Atomic Energy Agency) where they will make a big show out of a concession, collect concessions and conciliatory remarks and policy shifts from world leaders, dominate the new cycle and thus the public opinion, and reliably fail to follow up their actions with more concrete steps. This is nothing new, and last year's seemingly historic recovery is likely a continuation of this trend. The ugly truth is that North Korea is very far into its nuclear weapons program and will always hold onto it as a deterrent to United States interference. Whether this is ultimately a plan to annex/merge with South Korea may be up to debate, but the North Korean weapons programme is going to carry on - it has proven to be too useful an asset to dangle in front of powers hostile to the nation.
I think that this little "friendship" that both Trump and Kim have is definitely something to be alarmed about. I feel like Kim went from "hey lets blow the hell out of the US" to " What sup Homie Trump". This, from an American's point of view is alarming because of what had to happen for such a change in demeanor to occur. In fact from a optimistic's pov this may be a good thing because we have avoided nuclear warfare with Korea. With the mass hysteria of Trump's presidency from a pessimistic point of view this may look to be a terrible choice.
I believe it’s important for the White House to keep the dialogue going with North Korea. Although it will unlikely produce much concrete solutions, it will provide some form of stability for the two nations and the negotiations could set up precedents for future talks. The negotiations will only play into the region’s favor as it will foster peace in an area where war continues to terrorize the two Koreas. The deals with North Korea will come with a catch as denuclearization of the area could mean a clause where American soldiers aren’t allowed to be stationed in South Korea. This could lead to another invasion by North Korea, who continues to be back by China (despite China’s increasing frustration). However, more talks would do nothing bu help the situation gain some momentum into more concrete solutions.
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