June 30, 2019..The highly unconventional American President Donald Trump was on the Seoul side of the demilitarized zone separating South Korea from it’s confrontational neighbour North Korea. Nevertheless, this visit wasn’t going to be an ordinary one made by an US President with one of his most strategic allies in the progressively challenging East Asia zone. This visit would have far- reaching consequences in shaping the political framework of the Korean peninsula in times to come. In a first in the history of the modern era, a sitting American president was scheduled to step into the pariah state of North Korea and meet the erstwhile dictator of the country, Kim Jong- un.
The unprecedented press coverage received by this event was partially because of the anticipations of numerous across the Korean peninsula and the world of an United Korea in the foreseeable future, and partly because less than a few months ago, the leaders of the two nations were yapping at each other’s necks, exchanging warnings across the Pacific. These ranged from personal insults to threats of a nuclear war competent of destroying both of the nations and possibly the world with it.
History of the two Koreas-Following the defeat of Japan in the Second world War, Korea was divided into two by the 38th latitude and subsequently, transformed into the battlefield of the two rival ideologies in the post-war world, Capitalism patronized by the West and Communism supported by the Soviets and the then recently formed communist state of China. In the fiercely contested Korean War( 1950- 1953), desperate attempts by the communist North to unify the peninsula were foiled by a coalition of western forces led by the US.
The war left numerous incorrigible scars most important of which was the formation of a commercial South Korea in contention to the communist North. Over 66 years since the ending of the war, capitalist South Korea had become one of the wealthiest and most advanced countries with a 24 hour economy while, the communist North developed into a symbol of terrorism and authoritarianism in a world, that had increasingly began to consider her an outcast state.
North Korea was led by a dictatorship of the Kim family ever since it’s formation and in 2019, was being controlled by Kim Jong un, the grandson of the founding father of the autocracy, Kim Sung un. Struck a generation behind South Korea and the world in development, the poverty- stricken North Korea exists on the energy of abomination and detestation of the United States of America and a blue moon dream of uniting the Korean peninsula under a communist administration.
The Meeting-On a cloudy afternoon, at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, there were signs of intense human activity. The world watched intently, as the American president met the North Korean dictator for the very first time, took his hand and stepped into the North Korean side of the DMZ for a few brief moments before coming back to Southern side of the same. Then the two leaders of nuclear fortified nations spoke quietly for some time, walking around the border infamous for being the most heavily guarded military border in the world. These informal talk were followed by a closed door meeting for an hour between the representatives of the two countries.
“ Stepping across that line was a great honor ”, was Donald Trump’s response at the press conference later on. He was quick to proclaim a diplomatic victory as he had managed to renew the previously stalled denuclearization addresses with North Korea and managed to score on a personal level, by inviting Kim Jong un to the White House for a visit.
“ I believe that this will have a positive force on all of our discussions in the future ”, was the reaction of Kim Jong un.
Political impacts round the globe- Most countries in East Asia hailed the meeting as a move to a more stable and peaceful Asia. American allies of Japan and South Korea had especially positive views of the incident. The reason behind it was the hope of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula in face of an increasingly belligerent and desperate North Korea. The months preceding the meeting was plagued by multiple ballistic missile tests by the pariah nation , which reached as far as the coast of the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido and triggered a sense of fear and apprehension amongst the Japanese as well as the South Korean cabinet.
The North’s unverifiable claim of the ballistic missile being capable of carrying a nuclear warhead made matters even more tense as the neighbouring countries scrambled to find a diplomatic solution. Other key American allies across the globe too, hailed this unprecedented move by a person, who was probably the most controversial American president in history.
The only nation, who took the meet sceptically, was Kim Jong Un’s neighbour to the North and closest diplomatic as well as business ally, the People’s Republic of China. The friendship between the Chinese and North Korean governments had a long history stretching back to the Korean War, when Chinese military intervention prevented the total defeat of the communist regime in face of a coalition of forces led by the US.
Since, then China had always maintained close ties with the North Koreans and traversed as far as bypassing tough sanctions imposed by the UN to ensure the survival of the regime. Far from an equal partnership, a shrewd China had always utilized North Korea as a buffer zone to the Democratic American ally of South Korea. The apparent warming of American and the regime’s relationship was interpreted by Beijing as a threat to her foreign policy in the Korean peninsula.
Future implications- The much-hyped meet between the leaders of the two nations however, failed to achieve any concrete results. The talks stopped abruptly by October,2019 amid accusations levelled by the Korean side of inflexibility by the Americans. Kim Jong un refrained to visit the White House during Trump’s term in office.
The thaw in the relationship of the two countries was short-lived and not long after ,did the North Koreans restart their ballistic missile tests much to the chagrin of the US, Korean as well as Japanese administrations. To this day North Korea continues on to savour it’s strong relationship with neighbouring China and also, with Putin’s Russia. Thus, the meeting was rather symbolic that brought together people of opposing ideologies under one roof and envisaged a future of tranquil, where people would forget half a century of antipathy and work together for the development of human life and values.
A very politically insightful article! The mature and analytical writing style is pretty impressive! Waiting for more such articles ! Wish Aratrik all the best!