Can Trump persuade North Korea to return to the negotiating table?

During an interview with the moderator of Fox News, Sean Hannity, President Donald Trump said that in his second term he would again turn to the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to reduce security threats.

This was not the first time that Trump has reopened diplomacy with North Korea since taking office. On his first day of the office, he first described North Korea as nuclear power. Due to the recognition of North Korea as a nuclear state, Trump seemed confident that Kim Jong Un would be willing to have discussions with him again.

This can be wishful thinking about Trump’s side.

While Trump’s statements like Kim, it is unlikely to change Kim’s attitude. Kim Jong Un said last November: “We all exhausted our diplomatic options to create peace in the United States” and explained that there would be no new summits with an American president.

It is even more important, since Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is now aligned with him, Kim Jong Un believes that it has less a security guarantee from Trump than before, and will not request the recognition of his country’s nuclear skills .

Last June, Kim Jong Un set up a mutual defense pact that guarantees Russia’s military support when North Korea is exposed to armed aggression. In accordance with this pact, Kim used his special units to the Kursk region in Russia. He supports Putin in combating the Ukrainian ideas in the Russian territory, and in return Kim Jong Un expects Putin’s similar support.

Trump has often explained that he has a strong relationship with Kim because he believes that this connection will help prevent military provocations from North Korea. Trump’s friendship with Kim Jong un alone will change Kim’s aggressive behavior. For example, Kim Jong Un, shortly after Trump’s interview with Fox News

In order to bring Kim Jong Un back to the negotiating table, Trump has to provide Putin’s support for the KIM regime. In contrast to before, Kim Jong Un would prefer to receive economic support from Trump than security guarantees because North Korea’s economy is on a bad street. Kim Jong Un understands that the United States is an economic power plant, while Russia cannot offer the same economic aid.

The United States has successfully helped many impoverished and non -democratic countries such as China, Vietnam and Singapore to develop their economies. If the United States helps the North Koreans to overcome poverty, Kim Jong un Trump’s efforts would very much appreciate.

The good news is that Trump does not have to spend American tax money in order to show the top leader of North Korea a good will. He can have South Korea, the fourth largest economy in Asia and the 12th largest in the world from 2024, on behalf of the United States

In the early 2000s, the United States did not reject the economic cooperation between North and South Korea. South Korea was entitled to found the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ), a special administrative region in North Korea. The kiz is located only 6 miles north of the Korean demilitarized zone and an hour from Seoul from Seoul.

South Korean companies produced in the KIZ were concerned with North Korean workers who were well trained, clever and fluent Korean. In return, North Koreans were paid in US dollars, which made the Kim Jong UN regime available to the main reserve currency worldwide.

The kiz worked from 2004 to 2016. Former President Kim Dae Jung from South Korea, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000, applied for America’s support for the creation of the KIZ. The United States was convinced that the kiz would promote reconciliation and peace on the Korean peninsula. At the same time, President Kim Dae Jung persuaded the former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the father of Kim Jong Un to establish the kiz.

However, the former conservative president Park Geun-Hye unilaterally closed the kiz after he had sentenced Kim Jong Un to his ongoing military provocations, including a spy satellite start and the implementation of a hydrogen bomb test. The United States has not explicitly opposed one -sided decision against parks.

In 2017, the former progressive President Moon Jae-in, a mediator between Trump and Kim Jong Un from 2018 to 2020, expressed interest in reopening and expanding the kiz. However, he looked strong objections from the USA

If Trump convinces the two Korea to reopen the kiz, Kim Jong and will see it as the beginning of a new chapter in diplomatic relations with the USA that Trump has to do to give the green light. As soon as the Koreas have received their approval, they will use their financial and material resources to restart their economic cooperation.

Trump should ensure that all goods manufactured by South Korean companies in the KIZ are classified as product products. In the past, the United States did not guarantee South Korea. As a result, South Korean companies could not benefit from the export of KIZ products because they could not use the preferred low tariffs of the United States

If Trump officially recognized Kiz products as in Korea, South Korea would continue to encourage to improve its economic interactions with the north, the latter causing the latter to promote peaceful coexistence with the former.

The most important thing is that Kim Jong Un Trump intends to improve relationships between Pyongyang and Washington, DC

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Seung-Whan Choi teaches Korean politics and international relationships at the University of Illinois in Chicago. As a retired army officer, he is the author of four books and 54 magazine articles.

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