Is peace breaking out in North Korea?

Mike Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang indicates that there’s a very real possibility of a diplomatic coup

Are we on the verge of seeing one of the greatest diplomatic coups in modern history being completed? Judging by the developments coming out of Washington and Pyongyang, it certainly seems that is indeed the case — though it is still far too early for congratulatory tweets of praise. Over the past couple of days, confirmed reports have detailed a trip made by Mike Pompeo, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency and United States President Donald Trump’s latest nominee for Secretary of State, to the North Korean capital over the Easter weekend.

That visit itself is the highest-level meeting between the US and North Korea since former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright met Kim Jong-il, the father of the current leader Kim Jong-un, in 2000. The Albright trip did bring about an agreement that put North Korea’s nuclear programme in abeyance, but that particular understanding has long been passed through the paper shredder by Kim the younger.

Pompeo’s extraordinary visit to Pyongyang was made to lay the groundwork for an upcoming summit between Washington and the hermit state at one of the five venues currently under consideration. That summit is supposed to take place by the end of next month, and President Trump has yet to commit himself to sitting down with Kim, but his every tweet will be dissected for any indication of whether that might indeed happen.

Significantly, though, Moon Jae-in, the President of South Korea, is to meet Kim next Friday. The North Korean leader says he wants total denuclearisation of the peninsula, is shuttering the nuclear test site, and is willing to talk without preconditions on matters such as US military presence in South Korea. Officials from across both sides of the demilitarised Zone — the most densely fortified and indeed volatile place on this planet — are discussing possibly signing a formal peace treaty to conclude the bitter Korean war that divided the peninsula 65 years ago. That in itself would be a historic achievement and diplomatic coup, one that seemed impossible even a few months ago when it looked as if the very cold standoff could break into open warfare at any given moment.

The leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping seems to be a guiding influence on Kim, and Pompeo’s secret trip to Pyongyang follows Kim’s own trip to Beijing. That seems now to be far more than a coincidence. Maybe, just maybe, that diplomatic coup might indeed happen.