North Korea’s Denuclearization

By: Joe Mauricio

 

Who would have thought it possible???

North Korea will abandon its nuclear program in exchange for comprehensive security guarantees—it wants to look ahead and achieve a fundamental change in relations. That sounds very promising and a great sense of relief is spreading, and rightly so.

A few months ago, it looked as though this endlessly simmering conflict could escalate when U.S. President Trump, after mutual insults and Kim Jong Un’s deliberate provocations kept on and on. Surprisingly, North Korea went from threatening U.S. with nuclear war, to seeking diplomatic talks with President Trump.

During the Obama administration, the two nations reached a low point. First, Kim declared that rockets were ready to be fired at American bases in the Pacific, causing growing concerns for the U.S. territories in Guam. The U.S. begins moving significant military resources towards the protection of Western Pacific.

In 2016, North Korea conducted a series of nuclear tests with increasing potency. The regime declared to have perfected a hydrogen bomb. Western experts found this claim dubious.

In 2018, with longtime supporter China beginning to pull back on aid and trade with Pyongyang as part of ever-tightening international sanctions, the last of major round targeting oil supplies to North Korea.

In April 2018, in what was hailed by South Korean President Moon Jae as a miracle, he and Kim met for an official summit, and shook hands.

In June 2018, President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un met in a bilateral summit in Singapore and signed a comprehensive document in which the North Korean leader committed to full denuclearization.

The role of China is clear here. It has to ensure that neither side gets ahead of itself and takes too many risks. Like Trump, Xi also favors nuclear disarmament, but he’s not interested in North Korea’s collapse. So, the wise elder will keep his younger protégé from being led down the garden path.

The Singapore Summit, one way or another, is likely to increase its influence. But how come the “fake news” media is downplaying its success?