Diplomacy and North Korea

Abstract

Hopes were high at the start of 2019 that a diplomatic solution to the protracted North Korean nuclear crisis was finally within reach. The previous June, following his historic first meeting in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, United States President Donald Trump tweeted triumphantly that ‘everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office’ because ‘there is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea’. 1 Kim was equally effusive in his January 2019 New Year’s address, saying that the Singapore summit had occasioned ‘a dramatic turn in the bilateral relationship which was the most hostile on the earth’ and that it had ‘made a great contribution to ensuring peace and security of the Korean peninsula and the region’. 2 Meanwhile, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha described 2019 as ‘the starting year for a full-fledged Korean Peninsula peace process’. 3 But a year can make a big difference. As 2019 was drawing to a close, Kim ascended Mount Paektu astride a white horse. Internationally, the media greeted this latest propaganda stunt with ridicule. But serious Korea-watchers expressed anxiety. 4 Kim’s gesture was rich in symbolism. The mountain is reportedly the birthplace of Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il. It is where Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il-sung, is said to have ridden a white horse while fighting the Japanese. Some commentators suggested that Kim was attempting to associate himself with the ancient warrior kings of Korea, who also rode white stallions. 5 Most significantly of all, however, Kim has visited Mount Paektu prior to every one of his major policy decisions. Moreover, Kim had for months been proposing a foreboding end-of-year deadline for resolving the protracted Korea crisis. Hence, as Kim rode up his nation’s tallest peak and with the deadline fast approaching, diplomacy seemed to hang in the balance and face a highly uncertain future.