Sunday, the world witnessed peak Trump posturing for a photo-op when he met North Korean (DPRK) dictator Kim Jong Un at the DMZ. Of course, nothing was accomplished beyond a promise to resume negotiations for an as yet to be defined “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” but the momentary optics were grand. To me, however, the symbolism of the DMZ moment looks like a giant, flashing sign that points to a willingness by Trump to make a deal at the expense of South Korean interests.
Here’s what happened (NYT; WaPo; NBCNews)
1) Trump and South Korean (ROK) President Moon arrive at DMZ and take the standard tour of observation posts with US and ROK military personnel. “Peace” messaging begins with Trump and Moon wearing business suits, rather than camo jackets that are typically worn on previous DMZ visits by POTUS.
2) Trump and KJU grandly emerge out of large, modern buildings on respective sides of the border in Panmunjom and stroll to the demarcation line. There, they shake hands and greet each other warmly.
3) KJU escorts Trump 20 paces into DPRK. They praise the “historic moment” when the first sitting US President steps on DPRK soil. After about a minute they’ve returned to the border.
4) Trump then escorts KJU onto South Korean soil, where Pres. Moon joins them.
5) Trump and KJU go into the S. Korean “Freedom House” to hold talks for 50 minutes without Moon. WaPo reports this was at the insistence of DPRK, which wants ROK to “mind their own business at home.” Somehow, Jared and Ivanka are included though (WTF?).
6) Speaking to the press later, Trump lays out the utter nonsense/disinformation he wants the media to spread back at home:
“There was great conflict here prior to our meeting in Singapore,” he said. “Tremendous conflict and death all around them. And it’s now been extremely peaceful. It’s been a whole different world.”
7) Betting the future of his nation on US-DPRK rapprochement, Pres. Moon ignores the slights and calls Trump “the peacemaker of the Korean Peninsula.”
Seeing what happened yesterday, it’s too easy to imagine Trump handing a victory to Kim Jong Un as long as he gets something he can brag about at home, i.e., anything that looks like a reduction in risk of the US being attacked. He’s made clear how little he values our democratic allies in Europe and Japan. Why should South Korea be any different?
On Sunday’s AM Joy, the panel destroys Trump’s charade (h/t Bethesda 1971). Malcolm Nance plays “anger translator for rest of the government of the United States” beginning at about 8:00 in the program. Here’s his full statement:
Let me step into the shoes of anger translator for rest of the government of the United States: This is a disgrace! An absolute, total abject disgrace! The flag of the United States is flying on par with the flag of North Korea. Donald Trump goes to the DMZ where in that immediate area a US officer was hacked to death with axes by North Korean soldiers [under] Kim Jong Un’s father. That entire country is a giant prison camp. To say that [Trump] is listening and admiring [Kim’s] voice? That is the voice of evil. He is essentially Adolf Hitler in Asia, but now he has the President of the United States with rapt attention and love in his eyes wrapped around his finger.
This is really going to impact the national security of the United States. Because...North Korea does not care what we think[;] they're going to do whatever their agenda is. If that's to develop further atomic weapons they will do it. If they find that the United States doesn't play well with them, that they'll start punishing South Korea. Oh, by the wa, I don't think I've heard Donald Trump talk about the return of all of the kidnapped Japanese and South Koreans that have been held in North Korea...and he certainly didn't ask for any restitution for the murder of Otto Warmbier; he actually paid two million dollars.
We are in a very dark place with North Korea right now. Because what you see is a man who is so Ahab-obsessed with a photograph that ...he thinks is going to get him a Nobel Prize that he will sell the security of the United States and that of Asia right down the river.