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THE US-NORTH KOREA SUMMIT
Anyone who had observed the high-stakes brinkmanship between United States President Donald Trump and North Korean President Kim Jong-un over the months, should not have been surprised by Mr. Trump’s cancellation of what would have been a historic summit between both leaders.
In cancelling the summit, Mr. Trump blamed the anger and open hostility of North Korea, apparently sparked by Pyongyang’s caustic labeling of US Vice-President Mike Pence as a “political dummy.” He warned North Korea that the U.S. is ready to respond with massive nuclear power should any foolish or reckless acts be taken by Kim Jong-Un. This nuclear saber-rattling was unnecessary, especially since Mr. Trump has offered some hope that the talks could still take place.
However, the statesmanlike response from Kim Jong-Un to the cancellation of the summit, and the unannounced meeting between him and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, have rekindled U.S.-North Korea relations and the rescheduling of the summit for June 12 in Singapore.
The off-and-on-again meeting between the two countries has been described by Political Scientists as “zig-zag” diplomacy by the Trump administration. But the rescheduling of the meeting shows that diplomacy is always possible. Mr. Trump’s threat to use force seems to convince North Korea to resort to diplomacy, because its leaders have always harbored a genuine fear that the U.S could attack them with nuclear weapons.
The short-lived impasse between Trump and Kim Jong-Un was entirely predictable. Both leaders have huge egos and both seem to use brinkmanship to bolster their position. Last year’s disparaging rhetoric and nuclear threats between presidents Kim Jong-Un and Trump was about to escalate but was quickly calmed after Kim Jong-Un reaffirmed his commitment to denuclearize the Korean peninsula and to have the planned meeting as scheduled with Mr. Trump. The summit, if successful, could produce tangible results. It could lead to the development of U.S.—North Korea relations in a sustainable manner, end nuclear military tension, and establish a peaceful regime on the Korean Peninsula, among others.
However, North Korea’s commitment to denuclearization leaves some critics unconvinced, because they believe that the country will not simply abandon its decades-long struggle to become a nuclear power. This skepticism is understood because North Korea has a history of breaking commitments to denuclearize. But this could change, because Kim Jong-Un’s personal ambition is to make North Korea an economically powerful country. He knows that with foreign capital along with North Korea’s cutting edge technology, low illiteracy rate, high-quality human resources and abundant natural resources, the country has great potential to be an economically powerful nation.
But this will not happen under the current closed-door policy and the one-man leadership system in North Korea. The country must adopt an open-door economic policy which is necessary for economic cooperation and foreign investment. However, under President Kim Jong Un, North Korea could change. His Swedish educational background has made him a different leader from that of his father and grandfather, who led the nation for 63 years from 1948 to 2011. Living in Sweden for a number of years has exposed him to the western lifestyle and gave him the possibility of being ingrained with notions of economic reforms, open-door policy, and other western thoughts and viewpoints.
President Kim Jong-un’s aspiration to economically advance his country and his commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula could materialize, but only if his regime’s security will be guaranteed that all military threats towards North Korea will be eliminated.
In fact, Kim has stated that as long as the relevant parties abolish their hostile policies and remove the security threat against North Korea, there is no need for it to be a nuclear state. It can be reasoned that Kim Jong-un felt that North Korea will have to get rid of its nuclear weapons in order for it to peacefully co-exist politically and to co-prosper economically. So in preparation for the proposed summit, Mr. Kim had made good on his promise to demolish North Korea’s nuclear test site.
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