Kim’s huge envelope stretches possibilities
IN DANGLING its nuclear and long-range missiles in exchange for US security and economic benefits, North Korea is pushing the diplomatic envelope like never before. And the envelope is huge.
President Donald Trump on Friday declared his on-and-off summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was on again, the latest shift in a diplomatic theatrics to resolve the nuclear stand-off with Pyongyang. The announcement came after Trump hosted a North Korean envoy at the White House, who conveyed a personal letter by Kim inside a white envelope nearly as large as a folded newspaper.
Trump has not revealed what the letter said but he seemed happy to get it. A photo showed Trump holding up the envelope with a grin alongside an also smiling Kim Yongchol, the most senior North Korean to visit the White House in 18 years.
The photo did the rounds on social media, where theories abound why Kim would have sent Trump what seemed a comically oversized letter.
Did Kim, a third-generation hereditary leader, think Trump would share his love for lavish gestures and things grandiose? After spending months trading insults and war threats with him, has Kim learned the way to influence Trump is to appeal to his ego, something South Korean President Moon Jae-in seemed to try in April when he openly vouched for Trump as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize?
It’s probably none of those things or at least not entirely. The huge letter is just part of meticulous steps by North Korea to present Kim as a legitimate international statesman who is reasonable and capable of negotiating solutions, analysts say.
After a provocative 2017 in which his engineers tested a purported thermonuclear warhead and missiles that could target US cities, Kim has engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity in recent months in what’s seen as an attempt to break out of isolation and obtain sanctions relief to build his economy.
While trying to communicate its willingness to embrace Western diplomatic norms, Pyongyang has put in painstaking efforts to maintain reciprocity with Washington and Seoul, said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
Kim Yong-chol’s trip to Washington was clearly a tit-for-tat after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travelled to Pyongyang twice in recent weeks for pre-summit negotiations with Kim. Likewise, Kim’s letter to Trump would have been a response to Trump’s own letter to Kim on May 24 that temporarily shelved their meeting, Yang says.
In sentences printed on White House stationery Trump, in an uncharacteristically congenial tone, said he was cancelling the summit because of North Korea’s harsh comments about US officials. But he also told Kim “please do not hesitate to call me or write”.
North Korea issued an unusually conciliatory response, with senior diplomat Kim Kye-gwan saying Pyongyang had “inwardly highly appreciated” Trump’s efforts for a summit, calling it a “bold decision, which any other US presidents dared not”. Hours later, Trump said the summit was potentially back on.
Kim’s letter to Trump on Friday would probably begin by “praising Trump’s leadership and his ‘bold decision’ to build up the summit”, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Dongguk University and policy adviser to the South Korean president. “He will then talk about denuclearisation, ending hostility and normalising relations between the countries.”
Because of the directness and weight of formality they provide, Kim might see personal letters as an important way to communicate with leaders of countries the North never had close ties with, Koh said.
This sets Kim apart from his father and grandfather.
As for the size of Kim’s letter? Maybe that’s just how he likes it. Moon, who lobbied hard for nuclear talks between Trump and Kim, got a letter of similar size from Kim during February’s Winter Olympics.
It was delivered by Kim’s sister and was covered by a blue folder with a golden seal. There could be a similar folder in Trump’s envelope, Koh said. – Ap/african News Agency (ANA)