Trump Meets Kim In Singapore and What It Could Mean
The highly anticipated summit between President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un finally happened on Monday in Singapore. There was a great deal of build up to the meeting and many questioned if it would actually take place based off the posturing that went on between the two leaders. For all intensive purposes, based off what we know and what has been said in press conferences after the initial meeting, the summit was a success for Donald Trump and the North Korean regime.
Firs thing is first, denuclearization. According to President Trump, the leader of the hermit kingdom has agreed to completely denuclearize the North Korean military. At this point there is only a verbal commitment and a ceremonial document used for photo-ops to memorialize the moment, but none the less the President has more to work with than any of his predecessors, as far as we know.
For many, the President getting Kim to a table where the main course was North Korea getting rid of its nukes, is being hailed as a win, and even something worthy of a Nobel Prize. While I agree it is an important step in helping to stabilize our relationship with that region of the world, I don’t know if I fully agree with the level of impact Donald Trump had on this “sudden” about face of the Kim regime. Let me explain my skepticism.
Back in September of 2017 there was a story about an earthquake detected by South Korean officials that registered at about 2.7 on the Richter scale, and that earthquake was the 4th since North Korea had conducted its biggest and most powerful Nuclear test. This test was so big that it produced an explosion almost 10 times larger than the blast from the bomb the US dropped on Hiroshima in World War II. Fast forward to April of 2018 and there was another story on how the mountain above the North Korean testing site collapsed, most likely rendering the testing site useless and should be monitored for radiation leaks.
Sometimes its not hard people, and it doesn’t take a nuclear physicist to begin to put this together. Kim’s tone regarding nuclear weapons and this summit changed shortly before we were aware of the mountain collapsing on his testing site. Because accurate flow of information out of North Korea is limited it’s hard to say when Kim knew the mountain was going down, but I doubt a mountain collapses without some indication before hand. My theory is that Kim knew the mountain was going down which would effectively end his nuclear program on its own, whether Kim or Trump or Dennis Rodman had anything to do with it. While it’s been reported there may be other smaller testing sites, nothing has been verified, and the information that is out there is that those sites most likely could not be used to create the type of ballistic missiles and weapons Kim would need to pose a threat to anyone outside of the region. Essentially Kim blew himself out of the water with that last test and had no choice but to come to the table.
Back to Trump, while I don’t believe President Trump is the student of the office like his predecessors, I do believe he’s surrounded himself with enough people that keep him informed enough to be able to make decisions. Chances are, Trump is well aware that North Korea doesn’t have the capability to continue their nuclear program and he used that as leverage behind closed doors to bring Kim to the table. Exposing Kim in front of the international community would only push Kim to continue a lie and would make people question Trump’s leadership even more than his critics already are. This move allows Trump to look like the ultimate peace maker and allows for Kim to look like a maturing leader who wants to change the trajectory of his flawed regime. This also sets the table for peace between North and South Korea, which in turn makes China happy, because a war between the two countries means refugees pouring into China and would put China right in the middle of a regional war it wants nothing to do with. Every one wins (except Donald Trump Critics, and Dennis Rodman, the worm always wins).
There is another shoe that has yet to drop in all this, and it’s a relatively big shoe… Human Rights. The short of it, North Korea is a human rights disaster. The long of it, we could be looking at a case for genocide. Trump has said, and Kim Jong-un has repeated that the Trump administration will leave the North Korean government alone as long as they get rid of their nuclear weapons. As I stated earlier, nothing is etched in stone and we’re a long way away from having an enforceable international document, but that being said, I’m not sure any civilized nation can overlook whats been going on in North Korea, to its people, and not demand changes.
There was a report in 2014 done by the United Nations about the situation in North Korea as it relates to human rights which you can read here. But in case you don’t want to read it, I will relay some quotes from it below to give you and idea of what I’m referring to.
Inmates are imprisoned, usually for life, in camps without ever having been brought before a judge… They have never been charged, convicted or sentenced…
The living conditions in the political prison camps are calculated to bring about mass deaths. Forced to carry out grueling labor, inmates are provided food rations that are so insufficient that many inmates starve to death.
The intentional killings through summary executions, beatings, infanticide, deliberate starvation and other illegal means, all amount to the crime of murder… The prisoners are often so weakened from malnourishment and disease that they are literally worked to death.
To say that getting rid of the nukes is enough and Kim Jong-un can continue treating his people this way cannot stand in the international community. It’s early in the process and Trump and other leaders have time to bring Kim to task on this, but it cannot be ignored or allowed to persist. If Kim’s nuclear program has been effectively destroyed, I seen no reason to push the charade any further if he refuses to do right by the people of his country.
Trump has an opportunity to do right by an entire starving nation, and basically liberate these people who are being systemically enslaved and starved to death. While I’m not ready to high five President Trump over this summit, I would gladly hand him the Nobel Prize, if he is able to liberate the people of North Korea and provide light to a place that has seen only darkness for longer than I’ve been alive.
During the first press conference after his historic meeting with the North Korean leader, Trump said US war games in the region would be “provocative” amid talks with Pyongyang and promised to suspend them. He also noted that the drills are quite expensive and the move will save a considerable amount of money for the US budget.
Despite Kim’s pledges for denuclearization and the optimism for further talks, the easing of restrictive measures on Pyongyang will not be coming in the near future, according to Trump. The sanctions will remain in force until full denuclearization, the US president said, noting that he is “looking forward” to it.
North Korea is currently under both international and unilateral US sanctions for its nuclear and missiles tests. Pyongyang demolished its nuclear testing site in May, having invited a group of foreign journalists to witness it. Now the North is to destroy a massive missile engines testing site, according to Trump.
Earlier, the two leaders signed a “historic” document that would lead to “major change,” they announced at a joint news conference after their first face-to-face meeting in Singapore.
The final deal over the North Korean problem is yet to be signed, and the US wants South Korea and China to be part of it. South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a ground-breaking meeting with Kim at the end of April, when they agreed to stop all hostile acts and pledged to achieve “a nuclear-free Korean peninsula through complete denuclearization,” without specifying how it will be done.
Steve
Steve is an affordable multifamily housing professional that is also the co-founder of Whiskey Congress. Steve has written for national publications such as The National Marijuana News and other outlets as a guest blogger on topics covering sports, politics, and cannabis. Steve loves whiskey, cigars, and uses powerlifting as an outlet to deal with the fact that no one listens to his brilliant ideas.
