Trump-Kim reunion

US President Donald Trump staged a dramatic diplomatic rendezvous with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un last week. Trump is now the first sitting US president to set foot in North Korea. By doing so, the US president may have outpaced all his predecessors in breaking the ice in an otherwise perennially tense relationship but detente is unlikely to lead to Trump’s ultimate goal of denuclearising the Korean peninsula. If nothing else the meeting with the world’s most ruthless dictator might boost Trump’s overall image as a ‘statesman’ who is willing to achieve peace.

The visuals from the meeting were tailor-made for President Trump’s 2020 campaign ads. And on that scale, he may have achieved minuscule success. But diplomatic norms dictate that this meeting between Kim and Trump, like all the others before it, may end in failure and perhaps with no real progress in disarming the Korean peninsula. Trump’s impromptu invitation to the North Korean dictator in a last-minute tweet before leaving the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, is indicative of his desire to rekindle the connection both leaders lost after the unsuccessful talks in Hanoi. Resuming talks at this point in the American political calendar can only serve one purpose and benefit one individual. That is Donald Trump and his reelection campaign. If nothing else, the meeting with Kim would be used to project Trump as the greatest diplomat and peacemaker of our times in his upcoming campaign ads.

Foreign policy norms tell us such meetings should be the final step after long negotiations — only to sign and seal an important agreement. For now, the Kim-Trump meeting is a great photo opportunity that comes with no real demilitariszation, and perhaps even serves as an endorsement for the worst violator of human rights.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2019.

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