By Brandon Sapienza, Staff Writer
Last Thursday, President Donald Trump announced his plans to meet with North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un to discuss the nuclear disarmament of the rogue, isolated nation. The announcement comes as a surprise, given the harsh rhetoric the two men exchanged over the past year, including Trump constantly calling Jong-un “Rocket Man.”
Despite this, it appears that both sides are putting the past behind them, and Trump is making what could be the most crucial diplomatic move of his presidency. Should the meeting happen as planned, Trump would become the first sitting U.S. president to visit North Korea. Is he the ideal president to meet with a very dangerous regime? Maybe.
Sixty-four percent of Americans are uneasy about this situation, according to a CBS poll. But, if done correctly, the only result is success for the United States and the world. Countries like South Korea and Japan would reap the most rewards of any U.S. accomplishment with the North Koreans. We’ll have to wait until May to see how these talks pan out, but we can speculate how this clash of the titans will go.
There is one concern Trump supporters should have about this decision to meet with North Korea. That concern is an agreement, like the Iran Nuclear Deal, a mutually agreed upon solution that is unfair to the United States. It would also do nothing to prevent a continuing buildup of a nuclear program. Iran, despite its promise to allow independent nuclear inspectors to visit laboratories, on many occasions failed to comply with its end of the bargain. This doesn’t necessarily cause anything to happen, but the continuation of normal operations before the deal even was presented.
North Korea, given its secrecy and strict limits on foreign entrants into the country, is unlikely to allow inspectors to certify that the country is holding up its end of the bargain.
This meeting between these two men has a lot riding on it. The fate of a nuclear-free world hangs in the balance of, arguably, two of the most unstable men on the planet. However, if done right and with the maintenance of a strict U.S. stance, a deal could be ironed out that can help unify Korea after all these years.
