President Donald Trump’s get-tough strategy with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un paid off with South Korea announcing that Kim agreed to direct talks with Trump. Once thought unthinkable, Trump demanded under threat of war that Kim de-nuclearize the Korean Peninsula. After more frequent intermediate and long-range ballistic missile tests and nuclear detonations, the punitive U.N. sanctions and pressure from Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin paid off. Putin once said Sept. 26, 2017 that Kim would rather “eat grass” than give up his nukes and ballistic missile program. South Korean National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong announced March 9 that Kim eagerly agreed to meet Trump in face-to-face talks. Kim “expressed eagerness to meet President Trump as soon as possible,” a clear sign that Trump’s pressure worked.
Criticized by Democrats and the U.S. press for provoking Kim into WW III, Trump proved his critics wrong, standing firm against the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea [DPRK] nuclear threats. Trump started his tough talk with Kim August 8, 2017, warning him of “fire and fury” if he didn’t stop his nukes and Intercontinental Ballistic Missile [ICBM] program. Rhetoric escalated to the point that DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho told the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 24, 2017 that it was “inevitable” that DPRK missiles would hit the U.S. Detonating an alleged hydrogen bomb Sept. 3, 2017 and launching an ICBM over Japan Sept. 15, 2017, Kim pushed the world to the brink. Kim finally got the message from Russia and China that Trump was dead serious about military intervention. But the real key to bringing Kim around was not the 2018 Pyeonyang Winter Olympics.
Meeting Jan. 9 in the Demilitarized Zeone [DMZ] South Korean and North Korean officials met on the proposed DPRK participation in the Winter Games. Nothing was discussed about nuclear disarmament. Yet when North Korea’s small delegation walked in Pyeongchang under one Korean flag, it looked like a breakthrough of sorts. But let there be no mistake, the real reason Kim has agreed “eagerly” to meet with Trump to discuss nuclear disarmament was that China and Russia told him he’s on his own with any U.S. military intervention. Kim realized that his key allies China and Russia would not lend him any military help finally sunk in. It was, after all, Russia and China’s military help that helped his grandfather Kim Il-sung battle the U.S. and South Korean to loggerheads in the Korean War, signing an armistice July 27, 1953.
When you consider that three former American presidents, including Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, let the DPRK continue to develop its nukes and ballistic missiles, Trump’s breakthrough with Kim could finally make progress de-nuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson admitted today that the breakthrough meeting between Kim and Trump took everyone by surprise. Skeptics like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) doubt whether the meeting will result in anything more that past diplomatic failures with North Korea. Tillerson knows that the White House would not agree to any meeting unless Kim was willing to dismantle his nuke and ballistic missile For Trump to go to Pyongyang, there’s more to the meeting than simply, as Rubio suggests, an exercise in futility. Kim knows he’s run out of options on his nuke and ballistic missile program.
Announcing the meeting the world applauded talks between Trump and Kim to end the prospects of war on the Korean Peninsula. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was so worried about war on the Korean Peninsula she volunteered Sept. 11, 2017 to media peace talks between the U.S. and North Korea. Trump’s strategy of pressuring the U.N. Security Council on tougher sanctions and getting China and Russia to get through to North Korea paid off. No one knows the outcome of Trump’s talks with Kim. But it’s doubtful than any talks would proceed unless the White House had concrete assurances from South Korea that Kim was serious about disarming his nukes and ballistic missiles. So far, no one in the mainstream press is willing to concede that Trump’s get tough strategy has paid off, with the unthinkable happening: Direct talks between Trump and Kim.
Kim ran out of options continuing his nuke and ballistic missile program. Already faced with crippling economic sanctions, he knew that he overplayed his hand making nuclear threats against the U.S. When Kim learned that his allies China and Russia would not lend him any military support in the event of a U.S. attack, all bets were off. It’s one thing for Kim to play a dangerous game of chicken with Trump, it’s another to realize he has no safety net with his key allies. Trump’s straight talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin led both leaders to believe he was dead serious about attacking Pyongyang if Kim would not agree to dismantle his nuke and ballistic missile arsenal. When Kim meets with Trump sometime in May, he’ll be forced to let U.N. Weapons Inspectors to dismantle his nuke and ballistic missile arsenal or face the U.S. military.
