Daily Times

The highly anticipated meeting between United States President Donald Trump and Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un ended peacefully but with little results.

Both Trump and Kim shared joyful moments, had a good laugh, ate lunch together and signed an agreement, a hollow one. I mean, who could have imagined the fact that two of the world’s most important personalities will meet on a resort, for a vital summit, and pen a  vague agreement.

While Trump termed the agreement as “very comprehensive” and one “that will take care of a very big and very dangerous problem of the world”, experts described the document as vague and one which demands North Korea to denuclearise in an extremely polite manner.

I second those who are saying that the agreement demanded very less from Kim’s side and that Trump conceded way too much. People around the globe thought of something more reciprocated, where both leaders would have sacrificed and won equally, but got disappointed with the results.

The two leaders agreed to establish new US-North Korea relations based on peace and harmony. North Koreans have never had a friendly relation with United States. At least, now we won’t see the two states threatening to launch a nuclear war against each other, and no more name calling on Twitter either.

Both Trump and Kim agreed to work together for the creation of a peaceful Korean peninsula. President Trump pledged to halt joint military exercises of US with South Korea and also indicated that he may eventually work on bringing back 32,000 US soldiers from South Korea to United States and closing down US military base in the country.

The US president completely ignored North Korea’s human right violations in the summit and did everything in favour of Kim Jong-un. Trump lost a great opportunity to talk one-on-one with Kim on extreme human rights violations in North Korea. He didn’t even mention that for a single time.

According to statistics, it is estimated that eighty thousand to one hundred and thirty thousand people are suffering in horrific and brutal prisons. They are held as political prisoners by their own government and face extreme torture. Thousands of children in North Korea are dying from malnutrition. Trump could have included one more point among those four regarding the protection of human rights in Kim’s nation, but he did not.

The US president declared the summit “a success”, but people around the globe were expecting more from him. From human rights activists to political leaders, all have showed concerns over horrendous living conditions for North Koreans and on the inhumane attitude of Kim’s administration.

With the reduction of US military power in Korean Peninsula, Kim will be extremely relaxed. I don’t understand why Trump criticised South Korea for paying less than US for joint military drills. That is unfair President Trump. You cannot ignore your sixty-years-old friend for an autocrat.

This will be a moment of happiness for Kim he wanted to see from the very beginning – tensions between South Korea and the United States. And Trump’s announcement to stop military drills on North and South Korean border is cherry on the cake for Kim Jong-un.

But what did Trump get in return? Kim’s promise to completely denuclearise Korean Peninsula and to destroy a missile engine testing site in his country. That was it. I mean, just a vague promise in return of all those hefty concessions. You may appreciate Kim for his commitment to cooperate with the United States for recovering the remains of prisoners of Korean War and US soldiers who went missing in action during the same period and immediate repatriation of those already identified.

Trump is surely being played by Kim’s dangling carrot of complete denuclearisation of North Korea.

Must we remember, it was the hard work and negotiating skills of President Moon which successfully persuading both Trump and Kim to come to the negotiating table. He would have never anticipated that this would happen to him and his state. Trump cancelling US-South Korea joint military drills would be beyond Moon’s expectations. It looks as if US is no more committed to South Korea’s defense and after withdrawing from JCPOA and then from Chinese trade deal, this step from Trump administration will seriously affect the image of US in the world, as far as trustworthiness is concerned.

Status quo is in favour of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un because of Trump’s hefty concessions on his state in return of vague promises to completely denuclearise North Korea and at the cost of South Korea’s security has given birth to many questions that are still unanswered.