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| Lots of ritual in last week's meeting of the 2 Koreas leaders. Any substance? |
Either that, or just how insecure are they in the degree to which they will say anything intended to try to legitimize this Age of Trump that our society is now in.
IT WAS
REGARDED as a significant event last week when the leaders of the two Koreas –
Moon Jae-in of the South and Kim Jong Un of the North – actually met, engaged
in a lot of ceremonial ritual, talked for about 30 minutes, then signed off on
an agreement that technically ends the Korean War of the 1950s.
Or at
least says that neither North nor South Korea regarded the war as ongoing,
As far
as any gunfire or bloodshed is involved, that conflict between the two Koreas
(with the sides propped up by the United States and China) ended with a
cease-fire in July 1953.
The fact
that there was never a formal agreement signed has always been regarded as more
of a quirk of history, rather than one of significance. Although for those who
cite the instability of Kim and his relatives who have governed North Korea for
decades, it has had some fear that a moment of stupidity on someone’s part
could resurrect that Cold War-motivated military conflict.
BUT
INSOFAR AS our own political scene is concerned, there are those who are
seriously suggesting that the headline ought to have been, “Trump Ends Korean War.”
Many of
them also are suggesting that the U.S. president ought to receive credit for
bringing the two sides together and ought to get a Nobel Peace Prize.
They
think history ought to be crediting Donald J. for bringing an end to a conflict
that I honestly suspect most people today only think of as the motivation for
the M*A*S*H film and television series. Actor Jamie Farr’s “Corporal Klinger”
in drag might be the war’s lasting image.
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| TRUMP: He really believes it's all about him |
IT SEEMS
THAT the ideologues remain seriously miffed that the Nobel Committee back in
2009 gave their Peace Prize to then-President Barack Obama. Perhaps they think
it’s a matter of “equal time” that their guy get the same prize as well.
Admittedly,
that prize to Obama was one that has questionable merit. Obama had engaged in
significant rhetoric about nuclear nonproliferation and the merits of peace
between the Western world and the Muslim world. It had been hoped that giving
Obama the prize would add credibility to his talk.
Although
what happened was the distaste ideologues had for Obama meant they became
openly hostile to the idea (just like they despised everything he proposed), and little of lasting value came out of that era.
But
anybody who’s serious (which the ideologues amongst us rarely are) has to admit
Trump has had very little to do with any lasting peace in that region of the world.
If anything, his trash talk about North Korea has escalated tensions, and his general
attitude toward the rest of the world may be what keeps any lasting peace from
being achieved.
KEEP IN
MIND that the agreement formally ending the Korean War would still have to be
approved by U.S. and China officials. It could take months, if not years, before
the Korean conflict (1950-53) is officially over.
There’s
also the fact that the Koreas agreement does not include a resolution of one
long-significant issue – the degree to which the North ought to have its own
arsenal of nuclear weapons. Although the Washington Post reported Sunday that the North said it would dismantle its main nuclear test site sometime next month. Whether that can be settled in the yet-to-be scheduled
talks that Trump hints he’ll have with Kim.
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| Sad that some may think this is real |
So while
the ideologues amongst us are writing chapters celebrating Trump in history and
trying to strongarm people into giving him the Nobel Peace prize, I think the
head of North Korea’s national intelligence service may have a more accurate
perspective.
While
acknowledging “changing norms,” Kim Yong Chol said, “It feels embarrassing to
be applauded just for shaking hands.”
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