Trump Meets Kim, Steps in North Korea
President Donald Trump went there:
On Sunday, Mr Trump became the first sitting US president to set foot in North Korea, accompanied by leader Kim Jong-un.
Mr Trump had earlier tweeted asking Mr Kim if he would like to meet while the US president was in South Korea.
On Monday, KCNA carried extensive coverage of the unprecedented meeting.
North Koreans rarely receive news of the outside world, and the heavily controlled media has depicted the US as its most hated enemy for decades.
Images of the US president walking into the North as a friend of Mr Kim will be an extraordinary sight for ordinary North Koreans.
Negotiations over North Korea’s controversial nuclear programme have stalled since the second summit between the two leaders ended without an agreement in February.
After their surprise talks on Sunday, they reaffirmed their claims to friendship and said talks would continue through their negotiating teams.
Critics have dismissed the occasion as an act of political theatre which does not make substantial progress towards North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons.
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Negotiations with North Korea to try to convince it to abandon its controversial nuclear programme reached a peak last year when Mr Trump and Mr Kim had a historic meeting in Singapore.
They both committed to the “complete denuclearisation” of the Korean peninsula, but without clarifying what that meant.
It was hoped their second meeting, in Hanoi in February, would make some concrete agreement about North Korea handing over its nuclear programme in exchange for some of the tight sanctions against it being lifted.
But those talks ended with no deal, as they failed to agree on the pace at which sanctions should be eased.
It’s hard not to be cynical about what the President might have said during the neeting, but I will say two positive things (and then go wash my mouth out with soap)
1) The problems with North Korea won’t be solved with conventional military action, special forces or coup. We have to talk to them and Trump may be uniquely suited to convince Kim he has a friend in the WH.
2) This is really what presidents are supposed to do. Represent the United States in the international community. I’d prefer to see future presidents do a lot more of this and a lot less telling me what my healthcare or taxes should look like.Report
Yeah, this is one of those, “this is simply not done!” things that everyone in the foreign policy establishment agrees should not be done without really explaining why.Report
As I understand it, the consensus is that this is something the North Koreans have wanted very much and shouldn’t be just given away unless America was getting something back.
Trump thoroughly does not care about any of that and sees pageantry as its own reward, so cashed in a bargaining chip for nothing.Report
Well, that means that talking to Donald Trump is the biggest bargaining chip the US has, which means Donald Trump is probably the greatest leader in US history. “If you give up your nuclear weapons, I will let you bask in my presence for at least an hour.”
Meanwhile, tickets for Hillary’s speaking tour are going for about $10.Report
Correction: If you say something that could maybe be interpreted, by Trump, as promising to give up your nuclear weapons then you get to bask in his presence. A price about as worthless as the good it purchases.Report
Your lack of faith in the Dear Leader is troubling.
You should make sure you don’t compound it by failing to cheer lustfully at the great Patriotic Parade and Tank Festival.Report
As compared to previous Presidents’ accomplishments with North Korea?
Obama looked at North Korea with a pair of binoculars once, through two-inch thick bulletproof glass. I doubt the North was aware of him at all, and they rapidly accelerated their nuclear weapon’s programs, which were made possible by a long list of failures from previous administrations.
On his last day in office, Obama told Trump that North Korea was his most pressing, intractable problem. By the time Trump leaves office we’ll be building Trump hotels in Hanoi to accommodate all the tourists.
That’s because in international trade, North Korea is only good at making one thing: Making truly epic statues of great leaders who walk astride the Earth like a god. Building giant statues of Trump is going to become their core business, so it’s a case of a supplier meeting with their best future customer.Report
Heh, well if North Korea gives up their nukes in exchange for the lucrative Trump figurine making business then I’ll make sure to come back here and admit you were right.Report
Hanoi is in Vietnam, not North Korea.Report
Sir, this is an Arby’s .Report
“We have the meats” is better than our current FoPo, TBHReport
I haven’t seen any evidence, ever, that Trump even for a moment, represented the United States.
The best case scenario is that two sociopathic narcissists met, rambled incoherently for a few moments, then waddled back to their respective lairs.Report
Well, Trump needs to work with Kim so Kim can map out a route in which North Korea joins the outside world, without North Korea’s populace flipping out after they have an epiphany caused by their first serious exposure to reality, along with realizing that everyone else just had the same thought, and then slaughtering Kim and all his minions or getting slaughtered by them.
Kim has to figure out how Vietnam’s communist party survived privatization, how China did it, and how Gorbachev sort of made it through Perestroika. He also has to make sure he doesn’t go out like Ceausescu, or like most of his relatives and generals.
So, he has to change a great many fundamental narratives in ways the North Korean public will accept. I think the current one is that although previous American presidents were all capitalist war mongers who wanted to drink the blood of Koreans, Donald Trump could become a great friend of the North Korean people. That might have to sink in for a year or two before Kim can make another major change to the narrative.
I would liken it to a country that’s living in the Matrix. Too many obvious program glitches and everybody might catch on at the same time and destroy the shared illusion.Report
Eh, with the Norks I prefer Trump and Kim jabbering at each other to just about any of the other likely outcome. Let them chatter.Report