<<I realize that that is your line. But it ignores a critical fact. Kim has offered to meet with every president since Clinton. While Clinton refused to meet him personally, he did sanction lower level talks and even came to an agreement, something that for some reason Trump and Trump backers ignore. Here is a history of it: washingtonpost.com
If you read the history, you will see that Clinton got much further than Trump, but it broke down during the Bush admin, and Kim restarted the program, with his first test in 2006.>>
Sam, it looks like you are rolling three individuals into one person. The Kim Trump is dealing with is a young man and the grandson of the first Kim. This Kim only came into power in 2011 at the age of 27, so he has never been engaged by any US president until Trump. Obama never tried. He adopted a strategy labelled "strategic patience".
One of the main reasons I thought Trump had a real chance with Kim is because, unlike his father and grandfather, this Kim was educated in Switzerland and traveled in Europe and made European friends while living there with his aunt/chaperone. This aunt, in fact, after seeing what prosperity and freedom was all about, defected to the West rather than return to NK with Kim. You can google more about Kim's years in Europe with his sisters and the aunt. While reading this, I found myself wondering if Kim found it hard to return to NK. His half-brother and, I think, a sister had defected just like the aunt. The half-brother lived in Macau, and may have been killed over gambling debts.
Knowing this history of Kim was part of why I said at the outset that the stars may be lined up. I surmised that this young man might have seen for himself that (1) the world was a safer place than he had been led to believe, and (2) he could dream realistically of a better life for his people. In addition, this Kim, unlike the others, saw the growth and prosperity of SK and China. This was his generation. It happened, for the most part, after the first Kims had died. And it was right across his borders. What an enticement.
The gulags, the impoverishment, and the nuclear program were all things he inherited thus I thought he might be persuaded to turn away from them. In fact, shortly after assuming power Kim made a speech in which he declared his desire to 'focus less on the nuclear program and more on improving the domestic economy. At the time, there was much speculation in the Asian news that Kim would be assassinated or overthrown by his generals. People who had a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. The uncle that was killed was deemed part of a plot to overthrow Kim.
If you recall, Dennis Rodman, oddly, became friends with this Kim, made several visits to NK and tried to convince Obama to engage with Kim. At the time, Rodman was ridiculed but now it is apparent Rodman also came to believe that this young Kim was a person the US could deal with. I guess one could say that Rodman also was a player in this drama. |
