Little, and very little can be expected in reality from the ‘milestone meeting’ held between President Trump and Kim Jong Un. The media has been abuzz with calculations who won and who lost. Before we draw conclusion on losses and gains, it can be affirmed that little did Mr. Trump has gained for the US and also for the security of the world. President Trump is too eager to please Kim Jong Un to give him a chance to show success to his American people. He raised status of North Korea’s most secluded and worst dictator to the level of international leader. Trump was full of praise of Kim for running the type of dictatorship he runs. President Trump antagonised the real friends in the free world like the members of G-7.
Any US sitting president, if so wanted, could have met any head of North Korea long ago, if he had wanted to give him the honour of being seen in the company of the most powerful leaders of the free world.
President Trump has not been known as a stable statesman to be able to handle the most unscrupulous and heartless dictator. The signed statement between the two leaders is short on details and lacks a timetable for systematically deterring the North’s nuclear programme. Trump said economic sanctions against the North would remain in place until the regime ‘shows more progress in dismantling its arsenal’. North Korea needs American help in many ways to improve its economy including relaxation of economic sanctions. But it is an impossible condition that the whole region will have to be denuclearised.
But astonishingly, Trump announced he would halt joint military exercise with South Korea, which the North considers provocative. Officials in South Korea appeared surprised by that announcement, though South Korea aggressively promoted the summit as a step toward peace and national unity. There are every reason also for Japan to have doubts for investing of so much faith in Kim so soon and so hastily.
The world waits anxiously to see what would be Kim’s next move – with or without Trump. It will be undoubtedly a great achievement if North Korea ceases to be a nuclear danger for the region and by extension to the world. But that will require difficult changes in the tightly controlled country.
But the happy claim of big success by President Trump appears premature. He should be cautiously optimistic. But we, like many other peace loving countries in the world, want success for the deal to go through.
