The Unprecedented Presidency: Unprecedented Diplomacy
On March 29, 2013, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un threatened the United States by "declaring that rockets were ready to be fired at American bases in the Pacific." The declaration was in response to two B2 stealth bombers that flew over the Korean peninsula on the day before. The Pentagon called for an advanced missile defense system to the western Pacific on April 3. Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, said that North Korea posed "a real and clear danger" to not only the United States, but Japan and South Korea as well. While visiting Seoul, South Korea on April 12, 2013, Secretary of State John Kerry said "North Korea will not be accepted as a nuclear power". He said that a missile launch by North Korea would be a "huge mistake".
On April 26, 2013, North Korea said it had arrested a U.S. citizen. Kenneth Bae, for committing an unspecified crime against the country. On May 2, 2013, Bae was convicted of "hostile acts" and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. The U.S. has called for his release but North Korea has rejected any possibility of allowing prominent Americans to visit the country to request his release. Former Chicago Bulls basketball player Dennis Rodman, who had previously visited North Korea and was friendly with Kim Jong-un, sent a message on Twitter pleading for Bae's release. Rodman pledged to visit North Korea and attempt to free Bae. On May 2, 2014, Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released an article
Two more American citizens were detained in North Korea in June 2014, once again accused of "hostile acts". On July 28, 2014, the House of Representatives voted to pass the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2013, but the bill it was never passed by the Senate. In January 2015, U.S. President Barack Obama indicated that he believed that over time the North Korean government will collapse
In early April of 2017, mindful of the past history the bellicose nature of the North Korean leader, that President Donald Trump considered military options against North Korea's ballistic missile program. Some media sources erroneously reported that the USS Carl Vinson had been deployed to the Sea of Japan heading towards North Korea. On April 17 North Korea’s deputy United Nations ambassador said that North Korea had a "readiness to declare war on the United States if North Korean forces were to be attacked."
On his favorite social media of Twitter, President Trump called the North Korean leader “Little Rocket Man” and a “sick puppy”, and promised that continued North Korean threats to America “will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen”. He called diplomacy with the Kim regime “a waste of time”. In reality on April 18, the Carl Vinson and its escorts were 3,500 miles from Korea engaged in scheduled joint Royal Australian Navy exercises in the Indian Ocean. Later that month, Trump stated that there was "a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea". In July 2017, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson authorized a "Geographical Travel Restriction" which banned Americans from entering North Korea. On August 30, 2018, the ban was extended until August 31, 2019.
In January 2016, an American student, Otto Warmbier, was detained at Pyongyang International Airport after allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda banner from his hotel. He was traveling with a group of Americans, the remainder of whom safely returned home. Security footage showed Warmbier going into a banned area in the hotel and ripping out the poster from the wall and putting it in his bag. In March 2016, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, but in June 2017 was released from North Korea, after suspiciously fallen into a coma-like state. He died a few days after being returned to the U.S.
In August 2017, the Washington Post reported that North Korea had successfully developed nuclear warheads for missiles within reach of the US mainland.In response, President Trump stated that future threats would be "met with fire and fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before." North Korea announced that it was examining an operational plan to strike areas around the U.S. territory of Guam in the Pacific, including the Andersen Air Force Base. Two missiles were flown over Japanese territory and a nuclear test was conducted. In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2017, Trump threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea if the United States were "forced to defend itself or its allies". In response Kim Jong-un called the speech "unprecedented rude nonsense" and "mentally deranged behaviour".
On September 30, 2017, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. and North Korea were exploring the possibility of talks. The next month, on October 9, 2017, US Air Force B-1 bombers carried out mock missile launches off both coasts of South Korea. Two bombers operating out of Andersen Air Force Base in Guam carried out the drills along with fighter jets from South Korea and Japan. On November 28, 2017 North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, the first such launch in over two months. The missile flew roughly 620 miles before landing in the Sea of Japan.
On March 8, 2018, it was reported that a meeting had been scheduled to be held on June 12th in Singapore between President Trump and Kim John-Un. After military exercises between the United States and South Korea, Kim Jong-un threatened to cancel the meeting and on May 24 President Trump cancelled it. On June 1, 2018, Trump announced that the summit was "back on" for June 12 in Singapore after meeting with North Korean officials at the White House. President Trump met with Kim on June 12 and at the meeting an agreement was signed between the two countries calling for North Korea to reaffirm its commitment to the 2017 Panmunjom Declaration signed between North and South Korean to work towards completely denuclearizing the entire Korean Peninsula. The agreement declared a new start to US-North Korean relations between the two countries to achieve "peace and prosperity" through cooperation on a variety of issues and Trump subsequently announced that war game exercises between the US and South Korea would end.
As a consequence of this agreement, the bodies of about 7,700 U.S. military personnel who went missing during the Korean war were returned as of 2018. BThe June 12, 2018 summit between the US and North Korea included an agreement for begin repatriating American POW/MIA remains. On July 15, 55 boxes were returned. North Korea's state media declared a new era of peace following the summit. North Korea began removing anti-US propaganda.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visited North Korea in July 2018 to discuss denuclearization. North Korea is continuing with their nuclear program according to UN reports. President Trump announced cancelled Pompeo's scheduled visit in August 2018 due to insufficient progress in the dismantling of North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
In a September 2018 speech to the United Nations General Assembly, President Trump commended Kim Jong-Un for ceasing nuclear testing, dismantling several military facilities, releasing American hostages, and returning POW/MIA remains. Trump reaffirmed that sanctions will continue to be held on North Korea until denuclearization occurs.
Trump's visit to North Korea brought to mind a previous example of unprecedented diplomacy, that being Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to the People's Republic of China. In 1972 Nixon traveled to China in a monumental diplomatic initiative that marked the first time that a U.S. president had visited there. At that time China considered the U.S. one of its foes, and the visit let to the end of 25 years of separation between the two sides.
Even before being elected president, Richard Nixon had talked of the need for better relations with the PRC. The U.S. did not maintain diplomatic relations with Communist China, because it had recognized the government of the Republic of China on Taiwan as the government of China. Early on in his first term, Nixon and his National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger began sending subtle overtures to the PRC government about opening up diplomatic relations. After a series of these overtures by both countries, Kissinger went on secret diplomatic missions to Beijing, where he met with Premier Zhou. On July 15, 1971, Nixon announced that he would visit the PRC the following year.
Nixon visited China from February 21 to 28, 1972. His visit allowed the American public to view images of China for the first time in over two decades. Throughout the week the President and his most senior advisers engaged in substantive discussions with the PRC, including a meeting with Chairman Mao Zedong, while First Lady Pat Nixon toured schools, factories and hospitals in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou with the large American press corps in tow. Nixon dubbed the visit "the week that changed the world."
The visit had tremendous results. A significant shift in the Cold War balance resulted, pitting the PRC with the U.S. against the Soviet Union. "Nixon going to China" has since become a metaphor for an unexpected or uncharacteristic action by a politician.
Nixon said that there were three objectives for the trip: (1) to embrace People's Republic of China for peaceful settlement of Taiwan,(2) peaceful settlement of the Vietnam War and (3) deterrence of the Soviet Union's sphere of Communist influence after the Sino-Soviet Split. Nixon's critics said that Nixon's diplomacy failed on all three accounts. Taiwan remained threatened by the People's Republic of China, Vietnam was soon captured by the PRC-aided North Vietnam Communists and the collapse of Soviet Union was mainly due to internal domestic economic causes of its unproductive economic system. But Nixon's visit opened the door to Sino-American foreign relations, and paved the way to the strong economic ties that bind the two countries today.
On April 26, 2013, North Korea said it had arrested a U.S. citizen. Kenneth Bae, for committing an unspecified crime against the country. On May 2, 2013, Bae was convicted of "hostile acts" and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. The U.S. has called for his release but North Korea has rejected any possibility of allowing prominent Americans to visit the country to request his release. Former Chicago Bulls basketball player Dennis Rodman, who had previously visited North Korea and was friendly with Kim Jong-un, sent a message on Twitter pleading for Bae's release. Rodman pledged to visit North Korea and attempt to free Bae. On May 2, 2014, Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released an article
Two more American citizens were detained in North Korea in June 2014, once again accused of "hostile acts". On July 28, 2014, the House of Representatives voted to pass the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2013, but the bill it was never passed by the Senate. In January 2015, U.S. President Barack Obama indicated that he believed that over time the North Korean government will collapse
In early April of 2017, mindful of the past history the bellicose nature of the North Korean leader, that President Donald Trump considered military options against North Korea's ballistic missile program. Some media sources erroneously reported that the USS Carl Vinson had been deployed to the Sea of Japan heading towards North Korea. On April 17 North Korea’s deputy United Nations ambassador said that North Korea had a "readiness to declare war on the United States if North Korean forces were to be attacked."
On his favorite social media of Twitter, President Trump called the North Korean leader “Little Rocket Man” and a “sick puppy”, and promised that continued North Korean threats to America “will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen”. He called diplomacy with the Kim regime “a waste of time”. In reality on April 18, the Carl Vinson and its escorts were 3,500 miles from Korea engaged in scheduled joint Royal Australian Navy exercises in the Indian Ocean. Later that month, Trump stated that there was "a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea". In July 2017, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson authorized a "Geographical Travel Restriction" which banned Americans from entering North Korea. On August 30, 2018, the ban was extended until August 31, 2019.
In January 2016, an American student, Otto Warmbier, was detained at Pyongyang International Airport after allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda banner from his hotel. He was traveling with a group of Americans, the remainder of whom safely returned home. Security footage showed Warmbier going into a banned area in the hotel and ripping out the poster from the wall and putting it in his bag. In March 2016, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, but in June 2017 was released from North Korea, after suspiciously fallen into a coma-like state. He died a few days after being returned to the U.S.
In August 2017, the Washington Post reported that North Korea had successfully developed nuclear warheads for missiles within reach of the US mainland.In response, President Trump stated that future threats would be "met with fire and fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before." North Korea announced that it was examining an operational plan to strike areas around the U.S. territory of Guam in the Pacific, including the Andersen Air Force Base. Two missiles were flown over Japanese territory and a nuclear test was conducted. In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2017, Trump threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea if the United States were "forced to defend itself or its allies". In response Kim Jong-un called the speech "unprecedented rude nonsense" and "mentally deranged behaviour".
On September 30, 2017, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. and North Korea were exploring the possibility of talks. The next month, on October 9, 2017, US Air Force B-1 bombers carried out mock missile launches off both coasts of South Korea. Two bombers operating out of Andersen Air Force Base in Guam carried out the drills along with fighter jets from South Korea and Japan. On November 28, 2017 North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, the first such launch in over two months. The missile flew roughly 620 miles before landing in the Sea of Japan.
On March 8, 2018, it was reported that a meeting had been scheduled to be held on June 12th in Singapore between President Trump and Kim John-Un. After military exercises between the United States and South Korea, Kim Jong-un threatened to cancel the meeting and on May 24 President Trump cancelled it. On June 1, 2018, Trump announced that the summit was "back on" for June 12 in Singapore after meeting with North Korean officials at the White House. President Trump met with Kim on June 12 and at the meeting an agreement was signed between the two countries calling for North Korea to reaffirm its commitment to the 2017 Panmunjom Declaration signed between North and South Korean to work towards completely denuclearizing the entire Korean Peninsula. The agreement declared a new start to US-North Korean relations between the two countries to achieve "peace and prosperity" through cooperation on a variety of issues and Trump subsequently announced that war game exercises between the US and South Korea would end.
As a consequence of this agreement, the bodies of about 7,700 U.S. military personnel who went missing during the Korean war were returned as of 2018. BThe June 12, 2018 summit between the US and North Korea included an agreement for begin repatriating American POW/MIA remains. On July 15, 55 boxes were returned. North Korea's state media declared a new era of peace following the summit. North Korea began removing anti-US propaganda.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visited North Korea in July 2018 to discuss denuclearization. North Korea is continuing with their nuclear program according to UN reports. President Trump announced cancelled Pompeo's scheduled visit in August 2018 due to insufficient progress in the dismantling of North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
In a September 2018 speech to the United Nations General Assembly, President Trump commended Kim Jong-Un for ceasing nuclear testing, dismantling several military facilities, releasing American hostages, and returning POW/MIA remains. Trump reaffirmed that sanctions will continue to be held on North Korea until denuclearization occurs.
Trump's visit to North Korea brought to mind a previous example of unprecedented diplomacy, that being Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to the People's Republic of China. In 1972 Nixon traveled to China in a monumental diplomatic initiative that marked the first time that a U.S. president had visited there. At that time China considered the U.S. one of its foes, and the visit let to the end of 25 years of separation between the two sides.
Even before being elected president, Richard Nixon had talked of the need for better relations with the PRC. The U.S. did not maintain diplomatic relations with Communist China, because it had recognized the government of the Republic of China on Taiwan as the government of China. Early on in his first term, Nixon and his National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger began sending subtle overtures to the PRC government about opening up diplomatic relations. After a series of these overtures by both countries, Kissinger went on secret diplomatic missions to Beijing, where he met with Premier Zhou. On July 15, 1971, Nixon announced that he would visit the PRC the following year.
Nixon visited China from February 21 to 28, 1972. His visit allowed the American public to view images of China for the first time in over two decades. Throughout the week the President and his most senior advisers engaged in substantive discussions with the PRC, including a meeting with Chairman Mao Zedong, while First Lady Pat Nixon toured schools, factories and hospitals in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou with the large American press corps in tow. Nixon dubbed the visit "the week that changed the world."
The visit had tremendous results. A significant shift in the Cold War balance resulted, pitting the PRC with the U.S. against the Soviet Union. "Nixon going to China" has since become a metaphor for an unexpected or uncharacteristic action by a politician.
Nixon said that there were three objectives for the trip: (1) to embrace People's Republic of China for peaceful settlement of Taiwan,(2) peaceful settlement of the Vietnam War and (3) deterrence of the Soviet Union's sphere of Communist influence after the Sino-Soviet Split. Nixon's critics said that Nixon's diplomacy failed on all three accounts. Taiwan remained threatened by the People's Republic of China, Vietnam was soon captured by the PRC-aided North Vietnam Communists and the collapse of Soviet Union was mainly due to internal domestic economic causes of its unproductive economic system. But Nixon's visit opened the door to Sino-American foreign relations, and paved the way to the strong economic ties that bind the two countries today.