Called Mota Kim, Crazy Kim or Missile man, Kim Jong Un has done what not many people would have thought would have happened in the Korean Peninsula. Kim has finally given signals that North and South Korea are calling it truce for good.
The hugs, smiles and apparent mutual admiration between the Koreas set the stage for President Trump to move ahead with his own plans for a face-to-face meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Videos of Kim crossing over to South Korea to meet his South Korean counterpart have gone viral. He is in videos also seen riding a limo while guards are seen jogging with his cavalcade. Reports suggest these guards are specially chosen for their look, physique and martial arts skills.
Moon grasped Kim’s hand and led him along a blindingly red carpet into South Korean territory, where schoolchildren gave Kim flowers and an honor guard stood at attention for inspection. It’s the first time a North Korean leader has crossed over to the southern side of the Demilitarized Zone since the Korean War ended in 1953.
Stepping over a weathered, cracked slab of concrete, this was a moment that the world was closely watching. Interestingly the border is the world’s most heavily armed to greet South Korean President Moon Jae-in for talks . Kim even invited Moon to cross briefly into the north with him before they returned to the southern side.
Kim and Moon enjoyed each other’s company in the jointly controlled village of Panmunjom near the spot where a defecting North Korean soldier fled south last year in a hail of bullets fired by his former comrades, and not too far where North Korean soldiers axe-murdered two US soldiers in 1976.
They promised to work toward an eventual peace treaty to end the Korean War, which was halted by an armistice in 1953.
Trump, once among Kim’s harshest critics, said the North Korean leader seemed sincere about negotiations.
While analysts are treading with caution with regards to charting the future course for the two, the world watches even as Donald Trump says that minus Trump and Xi Jinping this sudden change of heart was not possible.
Kim Jong Un gave us a glimpse of a sophisticated leader. Both sides have been on the brink of war till last year. Kim a 34-year-old dictator seems to have had a change of heart wanting to be friends with the world. The Korean peninsula came to complete standstill.
Schools shut down broke protocol with jailed inmates given access to live TV to witness a historic moment in their history. This was a first in nearly seven decades.
The agreement signed by the two leaders focused on three main goals: improving strained inter-Korean relations, reducing military tensions and working toward a peninsula free of nuclear weapons —weapons that the North has sought for years in spite of United Nations resolutions barring the effort.
Kim has promised not to conduct further nuclear tests or intercontinental ballistic missile tests while talks are pending and has offered to close down the test site where six underground nuclear tests have been conducted since 2006.
The developments come at a time when the two Koreas were on the verge of nuclear war as the North unleashed a torrent of weapons tests.
While the meeting has grabbed major eyeballs, the South Korean analysts are still sceptical about a peaceful outcome of the positive exchanges between the two. Kim and Moon in their talks have vowed to have more meetings.
North Korea has spent decades in a dedicated fashion building its bombs.
Expectations are generally low, considering breakthroughs on North Korea’s weapons have collapsed amid acrimonious charges of cheating and bad faith.
The Trump administration meanwhile is hopeful talks will achieve progress toward a future of peace and prosperity and looks forward to continuing robust discussions in preparation for the planned meeting between President Donald J. Trump and Kim Jong Un in the coming weeks.
Reports suggest that Moon, a liberal whose election ended a decade of conservative rule in Seoul, will be looking to make some headway on the North’s nuclear program.
South Korea has acknowledged that the most difficult sticking point between the Koreas has been North Korea’s level of denuclearization commitment.
North Korea meanwhile has hailed its summit with the South as a “historic meeting” that paved the way for the start of a new era.
Kim and US President Donald Trump traded personal insults and threats of war, sending tensions soaring. It was only when Moon seized on the Winter Olympics to broker dialogue that things toned down. This gave way to a diplomatic process that led to the meeting in the Demilitarized Zone.
The Korean War between the two countries took place between 1950-53 which ended with a ceasefire and signing of an armistice agreement. Technically, both the countries are still at war since no peace treaty has been signed between them.
This is the first time in 11 years that an inter-Korean summit is being held between the two Korean leaders.
The summit sets the stage for the first meeting between the United States President Donald Trump and Kim, either in May or June.
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