DAVAO CITY—President Rodrigo Duterte hails North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after his historic decision to end the Korean war, saying that Kim made the right timing after 65 years.
During his arrival after his attendance on the 32nd Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) summit Duterte said Kim has become his idol after the perception about him changed with just his one “master stroke.”
“For all of the time, he was pictured to be the bad boy of the community. But with one master stroke, he is now the hero of everybody. He appears to be amiable, jolly good fellow, and very accommodating,” he said.
He said that Kim’s decision will be a good thing in the entire world since there will be “less stress in the Korean Peninsula” and a war can be avoided through it.
Duterte stressed that the impact would be great nit just in the Korean Peninsula, but in the entire world since China, the United States and even Rusia might be included if the war escalates—“a war which nobody can win.”
“I hope he remains to be that way because nobody is really after him. Just a matter of historical divide which was created there, wala naman kasali ang buong mundo,” Duterte said.
Duterte noted he would like Kim to think that they are already “friends” and that he would want to congratulate him for his “heroism” to come up with the decision of ending the 65-year truce.
Recently, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim had a historic summit that marks the first entrance of a North Korean leader in the South.
During the summit, the two leaders signed the Panmunjom Declaraion for Peace, Prosperity and Unification in the Korean Peninsula that leads to the formal denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
In his speech, Kim said that the Korean countries “will be reunited as one country.”