Today, Donald J. Trump might thinks in his mind, that he with this signature has done a masterstroke. Just like William Clinton thought in October 1994. That he was the master chief and the key statesman who gotten peace on the Korean Peninsula. However, there aren’t much difference in today’s agreement from 12th June 2018 and the 21st October 1994. Especially not the ball-park. Dennis Rodman might be new feature in diplomatic circles, but the agreement is like rehashing old ideas and putting some paint on it.
First the key part of the 21st October 1994:
“Both sides will work together for peace and security on a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.
1. The U.S. will provide formal assurances to the DPRK, against the threat or use of nuclear weapons by the U.S.
2. The DPRK will consistently take steps to implement the North-South Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
3. The DPRK will engage in North-South dialogue, as this Agreed Framework will help create an atmosphere that promotes such dialogue” (US-DPRK AGREED FRAMEWORK / SIX-PARTY TALKS, 21.10.1994).
Second the key part of the 12th June 2018:
“Convinced that the establishment of new U.S.-DPRK relations will contribute to the peace and prosperity of the Korean Peninsula and of the world, and recognizing that mutual confidence building can promote the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un state the following:
1. The United States and the DPRK commit to establish new U.S.-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.
2. The United States and the DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.
3. Reaffirming the April 27, 2018 Panmunjom Declaration, the DPRK commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
4. The United States and the DPRK commit to recovering POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of those already identified” (Joint Statement of President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at the Singapore Summit, 12.06.2018).
You either get taken by hook or the crook. But I am not eating it. This is like Kim Jong-Ill walked in the flesh and became more tolerable, the same has Kim Jong-Un now done. Both of them got the bargain for committing to do something, while not really doing it. The same can happen now. The regime in Pyonyang can do as they please anyway. Trump got a photo-op and actually a token of peace, without really co-signing anything. If he will commit to it, time will tell, because he has torn every other deal apart. But genius in deal-making he is not, than he has to give credit to Clinton. Who practically did the same in 1990s and I doubt Trump will share credit.
Because to to me, “take steps towards” and “commits to work toward” is really mediocre in language sense. There is no timeline, there is no scheduled affairs and nothing that would stop the DPRK from not continuing. This is like writing a letter of intent, but not ratifying it into law. So they don’t have to do it, they might consider to do it, I suppose, but nothing other than with intent.
There more hold in the NDA Micheal Cohen have crafted to Stormy Daniels to silence her, than what they agreed upon to stop the North Koreans from continuing their path to nuclear warheads. That says something. Peace.
MinBane 