Making noise about a lack of attention from 73-yuear-old President Donald Trump, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un promised a Christmas surprise unless Trump makes some concessions sometime before Jan. 1, 2020. Trump met with Kim in Singapore June 12, 2018 to discus “denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula. World leaders waited with bated-breath after the previous year of belligerent verbal exchanges between Trump and Kim. Things were so bad in 2017 and world leaders so nonplused that German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered to mediate between the U.S. and North Korea. When North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho said Sept. 23, 2017 that it’s “inevitable” North Korean missiles would hit the U.S., Trump decided to try diplomacy. World leaders breathed a sigh of relief when Trump and Kim met in Singapore July 12, 2018, only to see no progress on disarmament.
Trump and Kim agreed for a second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam Feb. 27, 2019, hoping to clarify the issue of “denuclearization.” It didn’t take long for Trump to leave the summit Feb. 28, realizing the talks were going nowhere. When Trump attended a G20 summit in Osaka, Japan June 28, he decided to give Kim another shot June 30, meeting in the DMZ, making Trump the first U.S. president to cross over into North Korea. Both leaders met at the Freedom House in Panmunjom to continue the incomplete summit in Hanoi. Both leaders re-committed themselves to find a solution to the stalemate, prompting Kim to notify Trump that he expected him to figure out something by year’s end. With no work on a peace deal or nuclear disarmament, Kim feels emboldened to get Trump’s attention by shooting off short-range missiles over the last few weeks.
Given Trump’s impeachment woes, he’s put North Korean on the backburner for some time, leaving Kim no choice but to make some noise. “It is entirely up to the U.S. what type of Christmas gift it will select to get,” said North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Ri Thae-song. Kim has been frustrated by Trump ignoring the Peoples Republic of North Korea [DPRK] after promises made during the June 30 min-summit in Panunjom. “The dialogue touted by the U.S. is, in essence, nothing but a foolish trick hatched to keep the DPRK [North Korea] bound to dialogue and use it in favor of the political situation and election in the U.S.,” Thae-song said. Thae-song cuts Trump no slack realizing the Democrat-led House is in the process of impeaching him. Trump has precious little time to spend on anything else, other than defending himself in an upcoming Senate trial.
Speaking on the sidelines of the NATO summit in London, Trump was asked about Kim firing off some short-range missiles recently. Trump responded Kim apparently likes to fire-off missiles that’s why I call him, “Rocket Man.” Pyongyang reacted harshly, taking the remarks as an insult to the DPRK’s Supreme Leader. Trump’s remarks “prompted the wave of hatred of our people against the U.S.,” said Choe Son-hui, first Vice Foreign Minister. “No courtesy when referring to the supreme leadership of dignity.” Choe said if Trump continues with the insults, both countries will be back in the thick of the insult-based diplomacy seen in 2017. “If any language and expressions stoking the atmosphere of confrontation are used once again that must really be diagnosed as a relapse of the dotage, provoking North Korea, Choe said, threatening to start insulting Trump.
Without making some overture to Kim, the White House braces for a new Intercontinental Ballistic Missile [ICBM] launch, already notifying Japan that it could happen any time. No one wants Trump and Kim to return to their antics in 2017, threatening World War III. Both leaders seem to get along when the met at summits in Singapore, Hanoi and the DMZ, but both can’t agree on a way forward. Warning the U.S. against participating in any U.N. discussions about DPRK’s human rights abuse, Pyongyang told Trump there would be serious consequences on peace talks. DPRK warned the Security Council that it would be “a serious provocation” to condemn North Korea’s human rights abuses. No one at the U.N., or State Department for that matter, can let North Korea’s threats prevent the truth from coming out. There’s nothing the U.S. can do to stop the U.N. from speaking out.
Trump’s National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said he was still optimistic about reaching a peace deal with North Korea. While there’s no evidence to date of progress, other than Trump’s summits with Kim, O’Brien still believes there’s hope for a deal in the New Year. “Kim Jong-un has promised to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. We hope that he sticks to that promise and we’re going to keep at the negotiation and keep the diplomacy as long as we think that there’s hope there. And we do,” O’Brien said. Two years of diplomacy hasn’t produced any progress on nuclear disarmament. Kim has made clear that the U.S. must work on a peace treaty, something that didn’t happen July 27, 1953 when the Korean War ended. To keep hope alive, Trump needs to stop demanding unilateral disarmament and agree to work on a peace treaty to finally end the 66-year-old Korean War.
