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 By Sunghee Hwang Seoul (AFP) July 1, 2019
North Korea on Monday hailed the weekend meeting between leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in the Demilitarized Zone as "historic", as analysts said Pyongyang was looking to shape the narrative to its own agenda. The two leaders agreed to "resume and push forward productive dialogues for making a new breakthrough in the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula", the official Korean Central News Agency said. After a Twitter invitation by the US president on Saturday, the two men met a day later in the strip of land that has divided the peninsula for 66 years since the end of the Korean War, when the two countries and their allies fought each other to a standstill. Kim and Trump shook hands over the concrete slabs dividing North and South before Trump walked a few paces into Pyongyang's territory -- the first US president ever to set foot on North Korean soil. "The top leaders of the DPRK and the US exchanging historic handshakes at Panmunjom" was an "amazing event", KCNA said, describing the truce village as a "place that had been known as the symbol of division" and referring to past "inglorious relations" between the countries. The impromptu meeting in the DMZ -- where the US president said they agreed to resume working-level talks within weeks on the North's nuclear programme -- was full of symbolism. Trump's border-crossing -- which he said was uncertain until the last moment -- was an extraordinary sequel to the scene at Kim's first summit with Moon Jae-in last year, when the young leader invited the South Korean president to walk over the Military Demarcation Line, as the border is officially known. "It was an honour that you asked me to step over that line, and I was proud to step over the line," Trump told Kim. Pictures from the meeting -- including a sequence of images from the two men emerging from opposite sides for a handshake and a skip across the border -- were splashed across the front page of the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper, which carried 35 images in total. Shin Beom-chul, an analyst at the Asan Institute of Policy Studies, said the KCNA report was "typical North Korean propaganda that glorified Kim as leading the tremendous changes in geopolitics". - 'Mysterious force' - Analysts have been divided by Sunday's events, some saying they spurred new momentum into deadlocked nuclear talks, while others described them as "reality show theatrics". The first Trump-Kim summit took place in a blaze of publicity in Singapore last year but produced only a vaguely worded pledge about denuclearisation. A second meeting in Vietnam in February collapsed after the pair failed to reach an agreement over sanctions relief and what the North was willing to give in return. Contact between the two sides has since been minimal -- with Pyongyang issuing frequent criticisms of the US position -- but the two leaders exchanged a series of letters before Trump issued his offer to meet at the DMZ. Regional powerhouse China on Monday said renewed discussions between North Korea and the United States are of "great significance". "It is hoped that all parties concerned will seize the opportunity, move in the same direction, actively explore effective solutions to each other's concerns and make progress on the peninsula," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters in Beijing. Trump's historic gesture came over a week after Xi Jinping made the first visit to Pyongyang by a Chinese president in 14 years -- a trip which analysts had said Xi may use as leverage in his own trade talks with Trump that concluded with a truce at the G20. As well as the working-level talks, Trump also floated the idea of sanctions relief -- repeatedly demanded by Pyongyang -- and said he invited the North Korean leader to the White House. Such a trip would have to come "at the right time", he added. KCNA was less specific, saying Kim and Trump discussed "issues of mutual concern and interest which become a stumbling block". Trump regularly calls Kim a "friend" and KCNA cited the North Korean leader as lauding their "good personal relations", saying they would "produce good results unpredictable by others and work as a mysterious force overcoming manifold difficulties and obstacles". Vipin Narang of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said the North was portraying Kim as "being courted by Trump".
US Democrats skeptical on Trump-Kim meeting in Korea Senator Bernie Sanders, a leading candidate in the race to face off against Trump in 2020, said he had "no problem" with Trump's decision to meet with Kim, in a moment of high diplomatic drama in the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas. "Sitting down with our adversaries is not a bad idea," Sanders said on ABC's "This Week." "I wish (Trump) would do that in the Middle East as well, and in the Persian Gulf." "In the case of North Korea, if we can get rid of nuclear weapons there, that would be a very good thing." But the Vermont senator warned Trump had "weakened the State Department" since taking office, and stressed that the US and North Korea need to "move forward diplomatically, not just do photo opportunities." Another Democratic presidential hopeful, Senator Amy Klobuchar, told CNN's "State of the Union" that "of course, as a country, we want this to work. I think any discussions are helpful." But she cautioned: "I don't think we know if it works until there is results." Fellow 2020 hopeful Beto O'Rourke was more scathing -- charging Trump had "added legitimacy to Kim Jong Un" without significant concessions in return. "Despite three years of almost bizarre foreign policy from this president, this country is no safer when it comes to North Korea," the Democratic ex-congressman said on CBS's "Face The Nation." Former US housing secretary Julian Castro, also seeking the Democratic nomination, was just as critical. "What's happened here is that this president has raised the profile of a dictator like Kim Jong Un," while "we haven't gotten anything out of it," he said on ABC. Castro added, "I don't think it's fitting for the United States to continue to erratically meet with a dictator when they haven't abided by the first terms" agreed on at last year's summit in Singapore. Trump's seemingly impromptu meeting with Kim came with negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington at a deadlock. Their first summit in Singapore took place in a blaze of publicity but produced only a vaguely worded pledge about denuclearization. A second meeting in Vietnam in February intended to put flesh on those bones broke up without agreement, and contact between the two sides has since been minimal.
China hails 'great significance' of Kim-Trump summit Trump on Sunday stepped into North Korean territory in the Demilitarized Zone, the first time a sitting US president has ever set foot in the former enemy country. Moments after the historic gesture, Trump brought Kim back over the dividing line separating North and South Korea for a meeting where they agreed to start working-level talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons. "These developments should be welcomed," Chinese Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing. "In particular, the DPRK (North Korea) and the United States agreed to resume working level consultations soon, which is of great significance. China supports this," Geng said. The historic DMZ meeting came around a week after Xi Jinping visited Pyongyang -- the first trip there by a Chinese president in 14 years as the two Cold War era allies further mended ties that cooled over North Korea's nuclear activities and Beijing's subsequent support for UN sanctions against its neighbour. Geng said Xi's recent visit to Pyongyang had "injected new impetus" into the nuclear talks. He urged both sides to "seize the opportunity, move in the same direction and actively explore effective solutions to each other's concerns" to ensure progress in efforts to denuclearise the peninsula. Analysts had said Xi might use his visit to North Korea as leverage when he met Trump for talks on their trade spat at the G20 in Japan at the weekend. Xi and Trump agreed on Saturday to a ceasefire in the trade war, with the US leader vowing to hold off on further tariffs on Chinese imports as negotiations continue.
Trump-Kim III: publicity stunt or leap for peace? Seoul (AFP) June 30, 2019 Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un's meeting in the Korean Demilitarized Zone produced a barrage of headlines and images, but left analysts questioning whether it was a small step for publicity or a giant leap for peace. The impromptu encounter saw Trump briefly crossing over the demarcation line - becoming the first sitting US president to step into Pyongyang's territory. It came months after their second summit in Hanoi broke down over what the nuclear-armed North would be willing to give up in exc ... read more
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