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By Jonathan Dela Cruz
TOMORROW, June 12, as we and a host of other countries commemorate Independence Day, freedom from the bondage of colonial rule and slavery, Singapore will host a summit which has the promise of ending bondage of another kind—a nuclear armageddon. On Sentosa Island—ironically considered the prisoner island when Singapore, then still part of Malaysia, was under British rule—the leaders of the United States, the only remaining superpower in the world, and North Korea, the newest nuclear armed nation, will sit across the table from each other. They will have the first ever meeting of these nation's leaders since the end of the Korean War in 1953.
This summit comes after more than a year of harsh exchanges and threats of annihilation between US President Trump and North Korean President Kim Jong-un. In fact, the meeting was almost called off just more than two weeks ago after yet another round of heated exchanges between senior officials of both countries.
But it will finally take place. And the world, specially North Korea's immediate neighbors South Korea, Japan and China, heave a sigh of relief. Definitely there will be prayers and good wishes for the meeting's success.
Up to the last minute nobody has come up with any definitive measure of success. Not even the United States and specifically President Trump who is known to do seat-of-the-pants policy making via his favorite Tweets.
Earlier, there were hyper-optimistic talks on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. This was a possibility attributed to newly elected South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who had earlier met with Kim in a summit of their own. But that prospect has since been downplayed; even Trump himself somehow had to admit it.
Answering a question from Reuters, a day after announcing that the summit was still pushing through, Trump advised that it might take more than one summit-like meeting to get a deal on denuclearization done. "I'd like to see it done in one meeting. But often times that's not the way deals work. There's a very good chance that it won't be done in one meeting or two meetings or three meetings. But it'll get done at some point. It may get done really nicely and really intelligently, or it may not get done intelligently. It may have to be the hard way."
The deal maker in Trump is obviously hedging his bets. But no matter. That these two leaders of nuclear nations will finally meet makes this initiative worth the risk.
This is essentially what Trump himself said when he snarled at New York Senator and Minority Leader Charles Schumer, after the senator suggested that there are real risks inherent to a seat-of-the-pants policy-making style.
Well, he got some choice words from Trump who advised that Schumer and the rest of the Democratic establishment from former Presidents Obama and Clinton and more so, Hillary, the former Secretary of State, never got anywhere trying to meet with the sitting North Korean leader to discuss things. In fact, Trump pointed out, they only imposed sanctions on North Korea after it had already developed and had in fact tested—however crudely—its intercontinental ballistic missile system which can reach Hawaii and the United States. End of exchange.
On the other hand, a number of theories have circulated about Kim's reasons for finally getting out of his comfort zone. He is under pressure from a restive populace, a majority of whom continue to live in want and fear as a result of sanctions— at least, this is how one story goes.
Another story says top military brass and the inner circle within the party leadership have come around, finally finding the courage to tell Kim that they cannot forever be taking their neighbors hostage and the world with a Tin Pan kind of nuclear arsenal.
And then, there is the reading that President Trump is very different from the others before him. He can really order a strike which can annihilate Kim and the leadership, a possibility which was bragged about by Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton.
This is the same statement that nearly caused the calling off of the summit.
Nobody will know what finally prompted Kim to join President Trump in Singapore. What matters is that it was revived.
Just a few days before June 12, President Trump and the senior members of his administration had a sneak preview of what to expect from the summit. He met with Kim Yong-chol, the former North Korean intelligence chief who is considered one of the closest, if not the closest, to President Kim. He was given all the courtesies and trappings of a very, very important visitor and he did not disappoint. Apparently, he carried with him details of a North Korean plan, possibly discussed with South Korean President Moon who visited the White House a week before the North Korean envoy's arrival, which was pleasantly received by Trump and his Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.
Bits and pieces of what the plan is and how it will be negotiated and implemented will probably be issued pieceby-piece by the two sides to cover their bases at home.
The best that can happen is if the two leaders can be persuaded to issue a joint statement, no matter how fuzzy it may be. The statements coming out of Seoul and Pyongyang after the leaders of the South and North met in Panmunjon— also a first between leaders of the divided peninsula after the armistice in 1953—may serve as the template for such an awaited statement.
As one keen observer of the scene noted, "…neither man will necessarily get all he wants, but both can use the photographs and their interpretations of what transpired to move on from what exists right now. As the British war time leader and statesman once said, 'Jaw, jaw is better than war, war.'"
Indeed, sitting together and moving even just an inch from what exists today is better than threats and bombasts.