High Drama of Korean Peninsula Peace Scripted, Directed, and Starred in by Kim Jong-un

  High Drama of Korean Peninsula Peace Scripted, Directed, and Starred in by Kim Jong-un

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

April 29, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

On the 27th, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held the 3^rd North-South Korea Summit in Panmunjom. This Moon-Kim play was spectacular, with numerous scenes, and finally signed the “Panmunjom Declaration” with both parties proclaiming to end the state of war on the Korean Peninsula and pursue comprehensive denuclearization. In as far as the declaration is concerned, it veritably eased the tensions in Northeast Asia to a great extent and let out the first rays of dawn for peace. However, whether or not the crisis will eventually be resolved still depends on whether Kim Jong-un can fully implement his commitments.

In the stream of dramas for reconciliation that Kim Jong-un planned, the “Moon-Kim Summit” in actuality was the advertisement for his “Trump-Kim summit” that he would have with US President Trump. For this reason, the pledge to pursue the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in the “Panmunjom Declaration” was truly a bargaining chip Kim showed to the United States. Kim Jong-un utilized this to tell the United States not to be afraid, saying that the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear arms to the United States could be removed, only with appropriate terms for exchange.

Kim Jong-un’s ultimate objective is national security and economic development; when he recently proclaimed that he wanted to build a socialist big power, he was using China as a paradigm to emulate in his mind. Developing nuclear arms and missiles was not meant to wage war against the United States, but he wanted to have formidable enough arms of threat in order to compel the United States to conclude a peace treaty with a commitment not to attack North Korea as a premise. If Kim could secure US commitment to peace in exchange, on the one hand, and could also remove sanctions, and secure economic assistance, North Korea would have unprecedented opportunities for security and development.

Kim Jong-un is willing to pursue peace; Moon Jae-in hopes to promote unification. The reconciliation of the two Koreas looks like it is sailing in fair winds, covering ten thousand miles in a day. Kim Jong-un, taking the initiative and leading role, has gradually been rewriting, with his will, the strategic situation in Northeast Asia; what the future holds for changes merits our close observation.

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