South Korean officials are saying that President Trump deserves “big credit” for bringing the divided Asian region to the negotiating table. The two countries have endured extremely tense relations since the Korean War in the 1950s in which the United States helped liberate South Korea from the abusive rule of North Korea.
Since then, North Korea has only reluctantly agreed to accept their role as neighbors to the South rather than rulers- but they have never truly agreed that they do not have the right to rule South Korea.
In the more than 50 years that have passed since then, South Korea has become a fast friend of the United States, and they have developed an advanced infrastructure with a thriving economy. But the South Koreans still suffer from a very high rate of kidnappings by human traffickers, and they are constantly threatened militarily by North Korea.
During the same interim period, North Korea has perfected its regime of insular totalitarianism- practicing intense control over their people with thought crimes, ideological prison camps, and slave labor as long accepted norms.
During this time, the North has been increasingly isolated. Many people suspect that North Korea has become a controlled asset for global powers who use the rogue nation to frighten other nations or distract populations from current events.
In spite of all of this, North and South have begun negotiating for the first time in years. This was unexpected, especially considering the fact that the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un has been escalating his threatening rhetoric since Donald Trump entered the White House.
Jong-un and Trump have been exchanging harsh words in a dialogue that has included insults, threats, and proclamations of total war. If it wasn’t for the fact that nuclear war is a possible outcome of these exchanges, it would be funny- with Trump calling Jong-un ‘rocket man’ and an exchange including a brief argument about who has the bigger red button.
But a number of commentators, such as the creator of the popular comic strip Dilbert, Scott Adams, have said it could be that Kim Jong-un just wanted to be listened to.
It could be that by simply talking to Jong-un as if he were a real person- rather than spouting off pages of management speak at the foreign dictator, has shown him in a way that he is being taken seriously. The nature of the jibes and mutual goading between Trump and Jong-un- it is fair to say- has undertones of friendly masculine tough-talk. After many decades of being treated with officious dismissal- it could be that North Korea has gained some emotional equity from the exchanges.
Whether or not that is actually the case, South Korea is recognizing Trump’s influence on the North as positive. South Korean president Moon Jae-In has said, “I think President Trump deserves big credit for bringing about the inter-Korean talks, I want to show my gratitude… It could easily be the result of the U.S.-led sanctions and pressure.”
One Fox commentator called for caution saying, “This could be a false calm that is being used by North Korea to buy more time for them to get their nuclear arsenal in order.”
This could also be the case, of course, but the story here is the fact that international leaders are praising Donald Trump while Democrats and the media continue to drag their feet and nay-say at every juncture.
The former Green Beret and author Michael Waltz echoed the concerns of the Fox host saying that both scenarios could be true. He said, “I think Kim Jong-un could be moving toward talks as a result of the sanctions that President Trump has led the effort to get into place, and he could be moving to talks to buy himself more time.”
But it isn’t only the president of South Korea who has praised Trump for his work. Kim Jong-un also, it could be said, praised Trump indirectly and stated in his New Year’s Day speech that it was time to extend an olive branch to the south.
It’s important to keep in mind the fact that the sanctions we are imposing on North Korea are having a devastating effect on their economy. It is widely accepted that it is important to leverage sanctions against North Korea to prevent them from developing their nuclear program. Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch said, “I think that the whole idea of pressure on North Korea is something that is important because it actually makes the government recognize that it can no longer live outside international law.”
Just days ago, the Council on Foreign Relations wrote that despite the clear effect that the sanctions are having on North Korea, it is unlikely that the rogue state will come to the negotiating table- hat in hand- to consider scaling back its weapons programs.
So, it appears even the CFR was wrong on this account.
This shows that globalist thought leaders, like those at the CFR, do not fully understand the genius behind Trump’s negotiating tactics.
At present, we are just a few days from the Winter Olympics which are to be held in PyeongChang, Korea. The Olympics have long been a staging place for the venting of international tensions, and there are fears that terrorists could carry out an attack on the event this year. This, however, would be out of character for North Korea, which tends to prefer to display its military strength in more traditional ways with expositions of troop movement and heavy military hardware.
We are having this conversation in the wake of the false nuclear alert in Hawaii wherein emergency services “accidentally” sent a warning to the public that a nuclear ballistic missile was on its way to the island. Hawaiian officials later said that an employee had “pushed a wrong button.” But many people have expressed concern that this was really an attempt to undermine the feeling of hope that is coming from Trump’s work with the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea.
