Daily Times

Donald Trump has accomplished what no one said he could. Indeed, what no other American president before him had ever managed. Not only did he hold a one-on-one meeting with Kim Jong-un — he single-handedly succeeded in persuading the latter to give up Pyongyang’s nuclear capability. This is no ‘fake news’ but the real deal. And still much of the western media talks of the North Korean state propaganda machine.

That being said, what occurred in Singapore is to be applauded. As a first step.

The two leaders signed what Trump touted as a “comprehensive document”. In fact, succinct would have been more appropriate given that it lists just four areas of bilateral cooperation to nudge Pyongyang on the path to peace and prosperity; all within the denuclearisation context. This has left many pundits worried. Not least due to the absence of a treaty to formalise this joint commitment.

Also missing is clarity over what “denuclearisation” means to either side. For the Americans, it is the complete verifiable and irreversible dismantlement (CVID) of the nuclear weapons programme. Though in his press conference, Trump said Kim had pledged to destroy missile sites; something that was agreed upon after the communiqué had been signed. For the North Koreans, denuclearisation naturally includes snapping shut the US nuclear umbrella that has long loomed large over Seoul. And then then there is the not un-small matter of the almost 30,000-strong American troop presence along the shared border.

Yet it is unrealistic to expect to thrash out such intricacies in a single five-hour session. What has been achieved is a positive starting point. And one that has been long overdue.

That being said, there is a flip side. For many, nuclear capability was Kim’s great bargaining chip. A hand he played well. Naturally, there had been tough talk from both sides including such sophisticated repartee as Trump threatening to destroy the North Korean rocket man or Kim’s double bluff over pressing the red button to strike the US. In reality, this had likely been a case of playing to the cheap seats. Meaning that it was the nukes and nothing but the nukes that dragged Trump to the negotiating table.

This, at least, has been the message sent to the rest of the world. And while it may have been unintended — modern history tells another story. Weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) represent, whether procured by less than transparent means or otherwise, the only security guarantees in the face of a warmongering Washington. These were what kept Col Gaddafi safe until he surrendered them. WMDs protected North Korea when it pulled out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in January 2003; similarly, when it conducted a nuclear test three years later. Their absence rendered Saddam Hussein a sitting target. This is something that the Iranians can relate to given the increased belligerence of this particular American administration.

The Trump-Kim summit was undoubtedly an historic one. Yet a world with fewer WMDs is not necessarily a safer one. Complete and collective disarmament is the only means of achieving this.  *

Published in Daily Times, June 13^th 2018.