South Korea says that the North may be willing to give up their nuclear weapons.

Kim Jong Un with the North Korean delegation meets with South Korean diplomats. Reuters. 

North Korea has reportedly said that they would be willing to meet with the United States over their nuclear weapons program and are willing to stop testing weapons during negotiations. Reuters. The South Koreans indicate that Kim Jong Un expressed willingness to give up their nuclear weapons if they could be assured of the safety of their regime. In addition to not having further nuclear tests, the regime will also suspend its missile program as well while talks are happening. The breakthrough happened after an combined Olympic Games which reduced tensions between North and South. 

We will see what happens! https://t.co/Y1qxoAUfd9

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 6, 2018

Possible progress being made in talks with North Korea. For the first time in many years, a serious effort is being made by all parties concerned. The World is watching and waiting! May be false hope, but the U.S. is ready to go hard in either direction!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 6, 2018

My Comment:
If true, this represents a major change in tone from the North Koreans. It would be wonderful if they were to back down and give up their nukes, but the fact that they are willing to even discuss it is a major development and a welcome one as well.

I'm cautiously optimistic that things might work out this time. I, of course, am aware that we have done this song and dance before. North Korea has long used talks as a way to ease sanctions and receive food aid. In the end they would always go back on their word and continue to develop weapons and act aggressively.

Is anything different this time? I am not sure. I does seem that North Korea is more afraid of a possible American military attack than they have in the past. They seem to fear Donald Trump who seems to have a more aggressive and unpredictable foreign policy than other US presidents. Trump is using the "madman" strategy that Nixon used to get us out of the Vietnam War and it appears to be working.

I think that Korea understands that their missile program and nuclear weapons would not win them a war against the combined forces of the South and the United States. The rest of their military is hopelessly outclassed and would eventually lose, even if they used nuclear weapons. All they would accomplish with a nuclear strike would be revenge. Revenge has its merits, but survival is always more attractive and I think Kim Jong Un would rather live to a ripe old age than die in his mid thirties.

I think Kim Jong Un is rational, to some point. He understands that his survival is dependent on the North Korean regime surviving and he must be worried that it might not if he continues to seek nuclear weapons. If he can get some kind of guarantee that America won't attack him he might look for the way out being offered for him.

I also think that both the South Koreans and President Trump want to avoid a war with North Korea. South Korea has very obviously been extending olive branches, with the Olympics being the latest and most significant, but hardly the only one.

As for President Trump, he may have engaged in some saber rattling but I doubt he wants to fight an brutal war on the Korean peninsula. He was opposed to the Iraq War and I doubt he wants to go down as another George W. Bush if he can avoid it. If the North Koreans are serious I think Trump will go along with it. He would also gain a lot of respect, even from his critics, if he managed a peace deal. I doubt even our media could spin a nuclear free Korea as a bad thing.

In the past I have said that North Korea would be unlikely to give up their nukes, not only for the military deterrence, but for the fact that doing so would cause them to lose face among their people. I think that is still true to a degree but I also think that Kim Jong Un could get a lot of prestige and honor if he were to give up his arms. Instead of a brutal dictator, he could portray himself as a peacemaker. The rest of the world might not buy it, but his people probably would. And given how much fawning coverage the American media gave his sister, Kim Yo Song, he might even have some of his crimes forgiven by the international community.

There is a major flaw that could destroy the whole thing and that is the actions of the previous administration. Everyone remembers what happened to Muammar Gaddafi, the deposed dictator of Libya. Gaddafi was raped to death while the world watched and Hillary Clinton laughed about it. The Obama administration caused it to happen. Kim Jong Un must have seen that and must understand that a change in president in the United States could cause the same thing to happen to him after he gives up his weapons. After all, Gaddafi was as cooperative as he could have been with the international community, giving up his chemical weapons. It didn't save him and Kim Jong Un has to wonder if we won't go back on any deal we make with him.

Still, I hope that some sort of deal can be made. Nobody benefits from a war with North Korea and avoiding one would be a great thing. Sure, we will have to tolerate the obvious and extreme excesses of the Kim regime but we could remove the threat of nuclear war. And that is something everyone should support.