While nuclear missile threats and military tensions have been nothing new on the Korea Peninsula, I could not help experiencing deja vu of the hide-and-seek games due to repeated failed attempts for denuclearization over the past decade or so.
When North Korea recently blew up its age-old nuclear bomb test site without allowing for experts’ verification, it reminded me of their past show of a nuclear plant cooling tower demolition. The North Korea regime has cheated all the time as far as nukes are concerned, and from a purely statistical viewpoint, the odds of North Korea’s dismantling of nukes forever are close to zero. Nevertheless, US President Trump’s recent roller coaster of decisions for the US-North Korea summit and U-turn moves with North Korea Chairman Kim Jong-un suggest that both leaders are desperate to make a deal somehow.
Will this historic US-North Korea summit produce a deal that delivers the long-overdue promise of complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization? Maybe -- at least temporarily.
But there are fundamental flaws in Trump’s argument that North Korea can and will follow successful pathways of South Korea’s prosperity if Kim decides to get rid of the nukes. Trump promised to give North Korea security assurance (no regime change) and economic aid in return. Would North Korean people who suffer oppression need only security and money to flourish?
What is at stake for this summit is not just intercontinental ballistic missiles and nukes; it is also a matter of the core values the US stands for. The upcoming summit agenda may focus exclusively on the issue of removing nukes with counterincentives such as pardoning terrorists and normalizing relations. Then, the Trump-Kim deal may risk compromising and undermining the core values and principles that America has cherished and protected: liberty, justice, humanity and so on.
One unintended negative outcome of the summit can be a setback to America’s moral leadership as a result of sidelining the values of liberal democracy and human rights for which North Korea regime has been antithetical. Ironically, another possible risk of a wrong deal with North Korea can be regional instability under Trumpism (“America First” doctrine). Getting rid of ICBMs alone will eliminate direct threats to the US; many American people may welcome even such a stopgap move. But the US military leadership and influences on allies will diminish further under countervailing China superpower; it is a slippery path toward destabilization of the Asia-Pacific region.
What if North Korea (with China and Russia) demands a US troop pullout from the Korea Peninsula, but it manages to retain its nuclear capacity? South Korea, Japan and other US allies in the region may become vulnerable to new threats and scramble for security. History warns against possible tragic consequences; the Korean War broke out after the US troop’s retreat from South Korea, in sync with the “Acheson line declaration.”
On Memorial Day, I remembered fallen American soldiers and others of the free world from the Korean War. Without their sacrifices, South Korea as we know of now would not exist.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the child of a Korean War refugee family, acknowledged the noble sacrifices during his US visit, paying tribute to fallen soldiers at the Korean War Memorial.
As a Korean immigrant, I feel I was in the same shoes, since my mother also fled to the South for survival during that war. Calling an official end to the Korean War via a peace treaty is a long-awaited step toward peace, but not a guarantee at all.
If this historic summit becomes truly successful, US President Donald Trump may deserve the Nobel Peace Prize; it may also help him defuse special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigations and win upcoming elections. Then the devil will try to exploit the chance that an impulsive and narcissistic leader is tempted into the Faustian trap for immediate and personal rewards.
Please never forget what American soldiers and allies fought against during the Korean War: communism and fascism. Our soul and heart are never up for bargain. If Winston Churchill were still alive, he would say this to Trump: “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
At the end of the day, our children are watching for a history lesson.
Lee Jae-kyung
Lee Jae-kyung is a professor of the Graduate School of Education, University at Buffalo, the State University of New York. -- Ed.
