Kim and Trump: When bullies talk about peace

(Dateline: Singapore) That Singapore landmark peace talks, which just ended here, between two of the world’s most notorious ‘’ bullies,” were both historic and far-reaching in its global implications and consequences. No matter what international critics say about US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jung-un, the fact is they have done what many pundits all over the world never really expected to be realized. They have started to talk about peace. Parenthetically, perhaps, the critics of President Rodrigo Duterte should also credit him for his relentless drive to bring CPP/NDF’s leader Jose Maria Sison to the bargaining table, to talk peace with MILF and even Nur Missuari of the MNLF. But this is another story. Let us focus on Trump and Kim.

That historic peace talk held in the expensive Capella Hotel at Singapore’s Sentosa Island, ended with the signing of an important document that could well commence a new era of peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula as well as the Asia-Pacific Rim. It was prefaced with the preamble, or words to this effect: “ President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jung-un conducted a comprehensive, in-depth and sincere exchange of opinions on the issues related to the establishment of a new US-Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea relations and the building of a lasting and robust peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the DPRK and Chairman Kim reaffirm his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula”.

The two leaders committed themselves to stand by these four pledges: First, both countries would establish new relations in the pursuit of peace and prosperity. Second, US and North Korea would join efforts to build lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. Third (US’s most important major victory), both nations commit themselves to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Fourth, (political win for Trump), Kim agreed to repatriate the remains of the US soldiers who died fighting during the Korean War in the mid-50s. The Philippines, by the way sent a contingent in that war, (Philippine Expeditionary Forces To Korea) headed by Colonel Nicanor Jimenez.

In their press conferences, Trump and Kim were happy about that historic peace talks, especially the American side because it was a milestone in US diplomacy never achieved before even by Presidents John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barrack Obama and other predecessors of Trump. This guy Trump may be abrasive, confrontational, even toxic at times, but he did something that has never been done before. I hope President Duterte can do the same with Sison and end the decades-long guerilla warfare of the CPP/NPA/NDF and establish a lasting peace for our people.  I happened to have a business trip to Johore over the weekend, meeting with my Malaysian friends. I crossed the bridge and went to Singapore to get a fresh insight on that historic meeting for The Freeman. I can write volumes of my notes on diplomacy and global relations.