President Donald Trump agrees to meet Kim Jong Un to discuss North Korea giving up their nuclear weapons.

President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. ABC News. 

South Korean officials have confirmed that President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un have agreed to meet each other next May to discuss denuclearization. ABC News. The South Koreans have said that Kim Jong Un has agreed that there would be no new nuclear or missile tests while talks happened and has stopped their objections to joint US and South Korean military drills. President Trump teased the announcement to reporters and said it was "big news". The location of the meeting has not been decided and will follow North Korea's meeting with the South Koreans. 

Kim Jong Un talked about denuclearization with the South Korean Representatives, not just a freeze. Also, no missile testing by North Korea during this period of time. Great progress being made but sanctions will remain until an agreement is reached. Meeting being planned!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2018

My Comment:

Absolutely huge news and fairly unprecedented as well. I am guessing that if you had told people before he got elected that President Trump was going to meet with Kim Jong Un in an effort to find a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear issue, people would not have believed you. Indeed, even now this news seems surreal. 

The question on everyone's minds now is can Donald Trump pull it off? In the past both Trump and Kim have insulted each other and threatened war. Both politicians, however, are known for their over the top media personalities while obviously being different in person. I don't think that would be a sticking point. 

One of the other main sticking points has already apparently been resolved. North Korea has always hated joint US-North Korean military exercises and I would have said that it could have been something that threw a wrench into negotiations.  North Korea has already dealt with this issue and said that the exercises can go on without objection. This is, quite frankly, a huge deal and shows that North Korea may very well be serious about peace. 

With that resolved I think the main issue is going to be assurances that North Korea won't be invaded and its government overthrown after they give up their nuclear weapons. This is what happened to Gaddafi in Libya and I am sure that Kim Jong Un remembers seeing him getting raped to death after the Obama administration launched their campaign against him. 

What Kim Jong Un really needs is some kind of assurance that won't happen with him. I've been thinking about it and I think that a possible solution is a three way non-aggression pact between North Korea, South Korea and America. Make it for 50 years and I bet, along with a lifting of sanctions, that North Korea would go along with in exchange for giving up their nukes and missile technology. 

If Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae In, manage to pull this off there needs to be a serious discussion about a Nobel Peace Prize shared between them. I'm totally serious about this. Avoiding a major war and removing the nuclear threat in the Korean Peninsula would be a massive accomplishment and one that deserves quite a bit of credit.  

Still, there are a million and one things that could go wrong to destroy this agreement.I think both sides are serious about making a deal but you never know what could happen. We have to remember that Kim Jong Un is a brutal dictator and can be unpredictable. The North Korean regime has tried this before and gone back on their word.

That being said, it certainly feels like this time is different. Kim seems very serious about peace. I have said in the past that the concept of "face" is very important for Koreans and he's found a face saving way to get out of his nuclear program. If he does give up his nuclear weapons in exchange for some kind of deal with President Trump, he can spin it as Kim being a peacemaker and to be completely fair he'd have a decent case for it. When I heard Kim Jong Un saying that his father's final wish was to get rid of nukes, I knew that he was angling for this outcome.

I sincerely hope that President Trump, along with Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae In, pull this off. This is something that even Trump's enemies should hope he manages to pull off. Avoiding a war with North Korea is a major goal and reducing the threat of a nuclear strike will be a major win for everyone, not just President Trump. Everyone should support this effort even if it doesn't pan out.