PEACETALK: The Miracle In Korea

Then he again suavely organized an impromptu photo session of the combined cabinet and military officials of the two Koreas before he was ushered into the Peace Palace building for the formalities.

And as if to jolt us – or those who noticed– back to reality from the unraveling trance, the North Korean leader signed the guest book with a pen handed by his aide even if there was already one in place at the table. Perhaps he or his advisers were not totally trustful that his thumb or finger mark on the prepared pen will not be used for future odious purposes or even for an awesome auction sale at Sotheby’s that won’t anyway feed his allegedly hungry denizens.

Still, who would have indeed thought that this reality will come to pass when Kim Jong-Un has been disparaged around the world—specially in the West– as “little rocket man”, “madman” or “crazy” even by our own President who now salutes him as his “idol” who has impeccable “timing”. Who would have thought that suddenly the threat of nuclear missiles blasting Guam, Japan or the U.S. West Coast to smithereens and a rain of the same ballistics on Pyongyang from the U.S. and its allies just a few months ago would abruptly vanish?

And now the strongman and his South Korean counterpart are a cinch bagging a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize for in one “masterstroke” they dampened the fears of a nuclear holocaust and ushered in an unprecedented era of hope and peace not only in their common peninsula but in the region and the entire planet.

And a day after the summit, Kim Jong-un declared in Pyongyang that North Korea would close its missile test site starting next month. Of course it’s not the first time that the perhaps erstwhile pariah state did this to appease or humor the international community, but the dramatic announcement further calmed restless nerves.

Never mind that there are Americans who claim that it was President Trump who was really responsible for this event coming to pass as he was the one who “pressured” North Korea to succumb with the stinging sanctions against the Pyongyang regime he championed. Of course sanctions have already been in place imposed by the United Nations since 2006. Ten years before Trump was elected President of the United States. And North Korea had soldiered on (no pun intended) despite these debilitating injunctions.

These same Americans have even chanted in one mid-term election campaign rally this week that Trump is bestowed the Nobel. (I can hear a wave of snickers now…)

Already, even before the ink on the agreements reached at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas have dried, some pundits have cautioned wariness reminding everyone that North Korea has twice reneged on similar pacts before. This is of course understandable as decades of distrust and contrasting systems and approaches to achieve some sort of a more lasting détente has not worked. Years of saber rattling, diplomacy, sanctions, bluster, rhetoric, actual missile tests, a period of denouement, or a combination of any of these failed to achieve this level of electrifying breakthrough.

The world already got a glimpse of what could be possible at the last Winter Olympics at the serendipitously named town of Pyeongchang when both South and North Korea marched under a unification flag at the opening ceremony and fielded a combined team at the women’s ice hockey event.[]