Efforts of Donald Trump appear to have borne fruits after Kim Jong Un announced that North Korea will halt its nuclear and missile tests. Amidst tensions between the two countries with Kim Jong Un issuing dire threats to the United States and the President of USA sharing fiery messages on social media aimed at the DPRK Premiere, negotiations appear to have reached a fruitful outcome ahead of the highly anticipated summit between the two leaders.
Although the circumstances that led to North Korea’s announcement are still unclear and it is still very early to predict whether North Korea will keep its word or renegade on its promise, it is a very significant achievement for Donald Trump to get Kim Jong Un on the negotiation table. For fruitful negotiations, the United States will have to make some concessions to the dictatorial regime in North Korea. However, it is still unclear what they might exactly be. There are even talks doing the rounds that Kim Jong Un has made the announcement only after being confident enough in his weapons arsenal.
Even Donald Trump’s biggest detractors will have to take a moment to appreciate the President’s efforts towards getting North Korea to halt its nuclear and missiles tests. The interaction between the two leaders which began with insults traded, such as ‘Rocketman’ and ‘Dotard’, was a subject for ridicule and mockery for Trump’s critics. However, with negotiations between the two countries finally on the table, his critics will have to concede that Donald Trump is not the clown they try to make him out to be.
There is still a long way to go towards the denuclearization of North Korea, however, Kim Jong’s announcement to shut all further nuclear and missiles tests and shut down a major testing facility is a constructive first step. Earlier, during the Winter Olympics, there was a surprise series of talks between the North Korean and the South Korean governments after a delegation of North Korean athletes traveled across the border accompanied by the sister of the North Korean dictator.
President Trump has reiterated that he is ready to leave the talking table if he believes the talks are going nowhere and the possibility of it yielding fruitful results is low. In light of North Korea’s latest announcement, Donald Trump has hailed the decision as a “Big Progress” and has said that he is “looking forward” to the summit. One thing that is clear with President Trump at the helm is that public and private facets of the administration are one and the same.
A message from Kim Jong Un: “North Korea will stop nuclear tests and launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles.”
Also will “Shut down a nuclear test site in the country’s Northern Side to prove the vow to suspend nuclear tests.” Progress being made for all!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2018
We may be witnessing what will be considered Donald Trump’s legacy long after his presidency is over. Bringing peace to the Korean peninsula might just be the greatest achievement for any US President since the end of the Cold War. There might be a great many things that people are not comfortable with regarding Donald Trump. However, even they have to concede that thus far he has been effective. If ‘The Don’ can negotiate a successful deal with North Korea that is conducive towards the establishment of peace in the region, then regardless of what his critics might say, he will be regarded as one of the greatest US Presidents in history.