Nor is it the case that the Panmunjom meet did nothing for denuclearizing North Korea. The complaint that no working level talks preceded the third Trump-Kim summit is backward: the meeting was necessary to get the working level talks back on track. The second Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February failed, in part because North Korea's negotiators were not authorized to discuss denuclearization before the summit. ...
The narrow conception of denuclearization, only counting off how many nuclear facilities and warheads were disabled, misses the fundamental truth about North Korea's nuclear program. The Kim regime developed its nuclear weapons because it feared the US would attack North Korea. The key for denuclearizing North Korea, then, is not for the US to merely demand North Korea dismantle its nuclear program. Rather, the United States must seek to transform its relationship with North Korea from a hostile one to one based on peaceful interaction and trust — and achieve denuclearization as a part of this transformative process. ... Seen from this perspective, the third Trump-Kim summit is groundbreaking. It showed the leaders of the two countries could meet on a short notice to overcome a diplomatic impasse, without months of posturing leading up to the meeting.
This sure made for an exciting weekend! I understand the concerns surrounding it, but from my perspective, it was a welcome relief after months of stalled progress and heightened tension since the failed Hanoi summit back in February. Process matters, and it is worth having a quick summit to kick it back into gear.
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ReplyDeleteNathan... I was hoping to hear your comment on the DMZ meeting. How did the North Korean press report on the event? Did they spin it around to say it Kim forced Trump to the meeting? Or something like, "Another glorious victory for our Great Leader." Larry Tressler
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