Is Trump Winning the Korean Conflict?

This is an interesting piece of breaking news at the New York Times…

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has told South Korean envoys that his country is willing to begin negotiations with the United States on abandoning its nuclear weapons and that it would suspend all nuclear and missile tests while it is engaged in such talks, South Korean officials said on Tuesday.

During the envoys’ two-day visit to Pyongyang, the North’s capital, which ended on Tuesday, the two Koreas also agreed to hold a summit meeting between Mr. Kim and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea on the countries’ border in late April, Mr. Moon’s office said in a statement.

“The North Korean side clearly stated its willingness to denuclearize,” the statement said. “It made it clear that it would have no reason to keep nuclear weapons if the military threat to the North was eliminated and its security guaranteed.”

We’re a long way from this meaning anything, but what if it did? What if NK decided to join the human race? And what if the Complainer In Chief’s methods – threats mixed with humiliation – turned out to be the right way to deal with countries like this (hi, Iran.)? No one’s really tried it before…

W’s branding North Korea as part of an “Axis of Evil” may have been factual, but it certainly didn’t have the panache of sending tweets to the “Little Rocket Man” nor was it laden with any of the inherent sexiness of Mike Pence in a ski parka at the Olympics. If Kim is done watching his people eat grass and leaves while 30 miles south of Pyongyang they’re making AI chips and 4K televisions, then maybe the brinksmanship will have paid off?

I know, I know – too soon.

And what if the mention of “tariffs” are really just another version of his “big red button” but for trade policies, and we all forgot about the part where we’re supposed to “take him seriously not literally”?

Just thinking out loud…