Rody’s Kim

Aside from former American president Barack Obama, North Korean President Kim Jong-un is another world leader who gets the goat of President Rodrigo Duterte. As the chairman of this year’s 50th founding anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), President Duterte has taken upon himself to speak for the regional bloc’s concern on threats to peace and security, especially in this part of the world, including the continuing test firing of long-range nuclear missiles on orders of Nokor president Kim.

But unlike the United States, our country has no diplomatic ties whatsoever with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK for short.

His beef with Obama all started late last year when the latter made comments over the reported extra-judicial killings (EJKs) in the conduct of the Philippine government’s war against illegal drugs. The former Davao City Mayor did not like Obama’s impression that many of the EJKs were apparently state-sanctioned by the incumbent leadership in the Philippines. From then on, President Duterte has locked horns with Obama.

Thus, at every opportunity in his extemporaneous speeches, President Duterte publicly cussed at Obama for taking hook, line and sinker the EJK reports in the Philippines as submitted to the White House by the US State Department. His diatribes against the US State Department have simmered down after getting several telephone calls from the White House coming from Obama’s successor, President Donald Trump. 

Feeling he is now getting a fair shake from the US under the Trump administration, President Duterte has softened up from his anti-America tirades until his second state of the nation address (SONA) last July 24.

Enunciating anew his administration’s foreign policy as an independent nation, President Duterte restated: “We will engage nations with full respect of the law, sovereign equality, mutual respect and again, non-interference. These are the principles that we are upholding as we advance to this year for the meeting as the Chair of the ASEAN.”

He cited as accomplishment by his administration to have cultivated warmer relations with China through bilateral talks and other mechanisms that led to the easing of tension between the two countries and improved negotiating environment on the West Philippine Sea. But after he mentioned this, the Chief Executive re-opened the request of the Philippine government for the US to return the Balangiga bells of Samar.

Huh? We suddenly lost the connection.

But perhaps at the back of the President’s mind, years from now he will also have to ask Beijing to return to the Philippines the reclaimed islands, atolls, shoals, reefs and rocks that were annexed to South China Sea. The Permanent Arbitration at The Hague ruled last year in favor of our overlapping maritime claims with China on the 200-mile exclusive economic zones of the Philippines under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Obviously toeing the line of President Duterte, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano shepherded his nine other fellow ASEAN Foreign Ministers to gingerly word their official communique that would not be harsh on China. The ASEAN Foreign Ministers merely alluded to the long-standing desire of the bloc to have a legally binding Code of Conduct among claimant countries around South China Sea that include the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Taiwan is also a claimant but is not a member of the ASEAN.

But for now, more than the dispute over South China Sea as a flashpoint, President Duterte believes the greater danger is posed by Pyongyang’s intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).

A close neighbor of the ASEAN, President Duterte fears that the NoKor despot poses real and more imminent launching of these deadly ICBM’s can trigger what could be the end of the world. President Duterte first called upon Kim to stop his nuclear program during the ASEAN event last April. He also urged the US to show restraint in dealing with the North Korean leader to avoid another world war.

He described Kim as “mad” or “crazy” man for the latter’s attempts at developing missiles and firing them with the aim at the US target. “Baka nga ito si Kim Jong-un, ‘yung t*****. You know, if that guy…I do not think that he is ready but he is playing with dangerous toys, ‘yang buang na ‘yan,” President Duterte told his audience at the Bureau of Internal Revenue during its 113th anniversary celebration last week.

“Magkamali ito, then the Far East will become an arid land. It must be stopped itong nuclear war because a limited confrontation and it blows up here, sabihin ko sa’yo, the fallout could deplete the soil, its resources at ewan ko kung anong mangyari sa atin,” he warned.

“Di mo makakumpiyansahan ‘yung mukha, chubby na parang mabait. Ang p**** i** niya ano pala – maniac is a…,” President Duterte quipped.

Over the weekend, the DPRK sent their Foreign Minister to attend in Manila the ASEAN Regional Forum where he got to talk with his counterpart Foreign Ministers, including US State Secretary Rex Tillerson. The US has been in the forefront of the efforts by the UN Security Council that have been pressing for denuclearization by Pyongyang.

Pyongyang’s top diplomat, Ri Yong Ho earlier confirmed attendance to the 27-nation ARF, which also includes North Korea’s main ally, China. But all the meetings were held closed door.

Prior to the ARF, the ASEAN foreign ministers, in a stand alone statement issued at the conclusion of their annual meeting in Manila, reiterated its “grave concern over the escalation of tensions” in the Korean Peninsula due to North Korea’s most recent testing of ICBMs on July 4 and 28, and previous ballistic missile launches and two nuclear tests in 2016.

“These developments seriously threaten peace, security and stability in the region and the world. In this regard, we strongly urge the DPRK to immediately comply fully with its obligations under all relevant UN Security Council Resolutions,” the ASEAN statement read.

The ASEAN have spoken but short of tough actions against North Korea. This, despite calls from the US to isolate and suspend diplomatic engagements with Pyongyang for defying international calls to stop its ballistic missile testing.

We can only echo President Duterte’s special prayer for Kim: “So let us all pray to God na somehow itong g*** na ‘to ma-ano.” Amen, whatever that meant.