He came. He saw. He concurred!
Kim Jong-un on Friday agreed with Moon Jae-in to work towards complete denuclearisation and permanent peace between the two Koreas.
The joint statement issued towards the end of talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said that "there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula and thus a new era of peace has begun" and called for a "swift end to the Cold War relic" that is divided Korea today.
The third Inter-Korean Summit brought the two leaders together in Panmunjom village on the South Korean side of the Demilitarised Zone that separates the North from the South. Kim got there by becoming the first North Korean leader in history to set foot on South Korean soil.
At 9:30 in the morning, Kim walked across the Military Demarcation Line and shook hands with Moon, who stood on the South Korean side of the border. The Military Demarcation Line came into being after the signing of the Armistice Agreement between North Korea, the United States-led United Nations and China in 1953.
However, Kim lobbed the ball in Donald Trump's court by getting the joint statement, also known as the Panmunjom Declaration, to talk about a nuclear weapons free zone, thus putting the onus on South Korea and its treaty ally, the U.S, to consider reciprocal measures. South Korea has the security of the U.S nuclear umbrella. Also, the U.S has a significant military presence in the region, including troops in South Korea, which the North sees as a threat.
The Declaration read: "South and North Korea confirmed the common goal of realising, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. South and North Korea shared the view that the measures being initiated by North Korea are very meaningful and crucial for the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and agreed to carry out their respective roles and responsibilities in this regard. South and North Korea agreed to actively seek the support and cooperation of the international community for the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula."
Effectively, it links North Korea's denuclearisation to the U.S extending security guarantees and considering other measures to ensure that the Kim family continues to rule the communist North Korea for some more time to come.
