In case of diplomatic relations, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump (United States of America) have gone from ridiculing each other and threatening to destroy each other’s county to planning their first summit. North Korea proposed hosting talks with Trump at the end of the Winter Olympics held in South Korea. The summit was supposed to be held in May 2018, but was delayed to June 2018 and might be delayed further.
Kim Jong Un came to office in 2012, promising to modernise and improve his country’s economy. He does seem to be taking a drastic u-turn from the policies of isolation and aggression followed by his predecessors. Steps to mend relations with its long-time enemy South Korea are being taken. Kim Jong Un proposed to take part in the Winter Olympics and dispatched 22 ice hockey players to play in the united Korean Ice hockey team. Both the convoys also marched under the same flag of united Korea. North Korea also changed its standard time to match South Korean standard time.
After years, the North Korean Leader chose to go on a foreign trip. He also pledged to put a halt to any nuclear testing ahead of Trump’s meet. If the USA ensures safety and decrease in military threats, Kim Jong Un is ready to denuclearise North Korea as well.
According to Political Analysts, Trump’s ‘maximum pressure campaign’ to force North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons might have caused a hindrance to Kim Jong Un’s economic agenda.
Previously, Bill Clinton and George W Bush have got into discussions with North Korean leaders. The USA and North Korea signed the 1994 Agreed Framework under Clinton. Under Bush, Six-Party Talks were held in 2005. Both these talks were meant to normalise the economic and political relations between the two countries, and impose a regulation on North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. But no fruitful result was achieved.
Both the countries might be enemies for life, but the diplomacy changes from administration to administration.