To see photos of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on his first visit outside his country since he took power in 2011 is to see an image of a leader having a wonderful time with his good friend, Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Both men appear totally relaxed and smiling at banquets, in great halls, at press conferences — a truly remarkable PR coup by both, and a defiant signal from the North Korean leader to President Donald Trump, letting him know that Kim is in fact the one wagging the dog.
In the photos from Monday’s visit — and from the very limited insight we have into the visit, we can glean that North Korea is continuing to outmaneuver the Trump administration in the region.
Here is Kim, smiling with Xi, whose country is a key U.S. trading partner, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and one of the top owners of U.S. debt.
In response, all President Trump could do was… tweet:
Received message last night from XI JINPING of China that his meeting with KIM JONG UN went very well and that KIM looks forward to his meeting with me. In the meantime, and unfortunately, maximum sanctions and pressure must be maintained at all cost!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2018
For years and through many administrations, everyone said that peace and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was not even a small possibility. Now there is a good chance that Kim Jong Un will do what is right for his people and for humanity. Look forward to our meeting!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2018
There’s no doubt that agreeing to meet with Kim is a step in the right direction for President Trump, who up until recently had said that diplomacy with North Korea is a waste of time and had in fact threatened to “totally destroy” the entire country. There seemed to be no diplomatic offramp to the tensions between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Now, as the Trump-Kim talks approach — which could take place by May — Kim is increasing his public outreach to South Korea and China, while Trump appoints people who have taken hawkish positions to key roles: CIA Director Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State and John Bolton as National Security Advisor.
The Xi-Kim meeting is so significant, given that Trump has previously chastised China for helping helping North Korea circumvent sanctions.
North Korea will next hold a historic summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in late April. This follows Kim’s meeting with South Korean National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong earlier this month, which went so well that Kim indicated a readiness to denuclearize his weapon arsenal and issued an invitation to President Trump via Chung.
Mere weeks before that meeting, the United States had failed to make any connection or progress with the North Koreans, including when all parties attended the Opening Ceremonies at the Winter Olympics in Pyongchang, South Korea.
The two Koreas had already been working hard to make inroads, notably, opening a diplomatic phone line between then that had been shut down for nearly two years. Then, perhaps realizing that it seemed like he was not in control of the narrative, we learned that Trump called South Korean President Moon Jae-in and asked him to publicly give him credit for diplomatic progress between the Koreas.
Moon duly tipped his hat to Trump in a January press conference. But it’s worth noting that Moon also last week said he hoped to be in the room with Trump and Moon when they finally meet.
How the talks will unfold between Trump and Kim remains to be seen, but Kim might yet have another card up his sleeve: a meeting with the Russians.
Ties between the two countries have strengthened recently, as Russia has also aided in Pyongyang’s violations of U.N. sanctions.
Although there is no meeting yet announced between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin (so far, there’s only talk of a Moscow visit for North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong), that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. After all, Kim’s visit with Xi was kept under wraps until it was actually happening.
And as the United States and the West increasingly work to isolate Russia by expelling large numbers of Russian diplomats over the poisoning of a double agent and his daughter earlier this month, North Korea is likely to exploit that division, making Trump’s already difficult mission all the more tricky.