Who Wins This Round?

By Bill Lee

Who is winning in the war of words between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un? As far as insults, Kim Jong Un is up on points. While Trump manages only “Rocket Man,” Kim, through the official North Korean media, has come up with Trump as a “mentally deranged dotard.”

North Korea agreed to meet for talks with South Korea on 9 January. Was it because Trump’s bellicose rhetoric had pushed tensions to such a height that Pyongyang feared military action by the United States? Trump took credit, tweeting, “Does anybody really believe that talks and dialogue would be going on between North and South Korea right now if I wasn’t firm, strong and willing to control our total ‘might’ against the North.”

Yet Pyongyang certainly came out ahead in the talks at Panmunjom. They get to send their athletes and cheerleaders to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, and, more importantly, got the United States and South Korea to suspend their military exercise until after the Olympics. Moreover, they were able to make clear they will not denuclearize.

North Korea’s nuclear and missile arsenals are already a fait accompli despite Trump’s boast that he will “take care of it.” If, with all of Trump’s bluster, Kim Jong Un feels Trump is crazy enough to start bombing North Korea, that is all the more reason for the North Koreans never to give up their nuclear arms. Kim Jong Un wins this round.

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Photo by Paul Ark via Flickr