In a stunning development, the White house has pulled out of denuclearisation talks with North Korea. This also highlights president Trump’s excellent negotiation skills. In its letter addressed to the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un, Donald Trump has outlined the progress he has made with North Korea in the build up to the Singapore summit.
In a strongly worded letter to the North Korean dictator, Trump has subtly narrated how he took North Korea for a ride. The letter by the President of the United States makes it clear that it was North Korea in the first place which had requested for the Singapore summit to be held on June 12. However, the letter is bound to leave Kim Jong-un perplexed, as president Trump went ahead to unilaterally withdraw from the summit owing to “tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in Kim Jong-un’s most recent statement”. The letter seems to be a manifestation of the United States’ authority under the strong leadership of President Trump. In this letter, he even passed a soft threat to Kim Jong-un not to harp on the basis of nuclear power. He advised the North Korean totalitarian not to boast its nuclear capabilities. In a stern warning to the North Korean dictator, president Trump made it clear that when it comes to nuclear weapons, the United States has such massive firepower that he ‘prays to God they will never have to be used’. President Trump has therefore affirmed that no one can provoke the United States and get away with it.
What president Trump has done is that after having extracted what he wanted from North Korea, he has refused to go ahead with the summit. This must have taken the North Koreans by surprise before they could understand that they had been taken for a ride. Trump got Kim Jong-un to dismantle North Korea’s Punggye-ri test site and also secured the release of American hostages from North Korea as highlighted by Trump in his letter to Kim Jong-un. Within hours of demolition of North Korea’s nuclear site, the United States pulled out of bilateral talks with North Korea.
In his letter, President Trump has openly outlined how he has outrightly defeated the North Korean dictator. He mentioned the details of the American hostages only to outline how he extracted what he wanted to from North Korea, and once the United States was in a better bargaining position, it unilaterally withdrew from the summit. By outlining that “the meeting was requested by North Korea”, president Trump has highlighted how he was always been negotiating from a position of strength, and once he was sure that he got what he wanted he sent the North Koreans packing. In the concluding paragraph of his letter, Trump stated that North Korea has lost an opportunity for lasting peace. By stating that Kim Jong-un should feel free to call or write to him in case he wishes to start the negotiation process all over again, the United States president has made it clear that the United States will keep speaking from a position of strength. North Korea has been done in by Trump and now the North Koreans will have no option but to come crawling in order to restart the negotiation process.
With this, it is clear that president Trump has restored the hegemony of United States in terms of geopolitics. After 8 years of Obama, it appeared as if the United States has lost its mojo. However, president Trump has made it clear that if anyone tries to provoke the United States, they will be dealt with accordingly. When everyone thought that the United States and North Korea were embracing each other, president Trump has elucidated that he will not let North Korea get away after making nuclear threats. Now, the American President will make North Korea crawl before the United States in order to come at an appropriate conclusion to negotiations.