Kim's charm offensive: a specious victory

Wang Chong, Global Times

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Excerpt:

It must have been a relief for South Korean President Moon Jae-in to see the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics come to an end. Despite criticisms on him for his soft stance on North Korea and US President Donald Trump's disapproval of his interactions and reaching out to the North, the Games wrapped up without a nuclear weapon being fired.

Sports is a good enabler of politics. There are numerous examples in recent history where sports events were employed to promote bilateral relations. Taking advantage of the Winter Olympics, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un offered an olive branch and demonstrated his willingness to establish contact with South Korea, seeking to portray the international community a peace-loving image of North Korea, which demonstrated his diplomatic skills.

The visit of his younger sister Kim Yo-jong to South Korea during the Winter Olympics drew especial attention. She handed over her brother's letter to Moon in Seoul, inviting the South Korean president to Pyongyang. The move underscored North Korea's efforts to alleviate pressures brought by sanctions by improving inter-Korea ties.

Whether Moon will pay a idea to North Korea on the invitation of Kim needs to be pondered. But it is obvious that Trump strongly opposes the idea. The US president insists on tough policies toward Pyongyang.

Kim offered an olive branch to South Korea because the sanctions imposed on the North by the international community have worked. North Korea now is short of food, electricity and gasoline, which has severely affected people's livelihood. Kim intended to make use of the Winter Olympics to extricate his country out of the quagmire. But his strategy of public diplomacy  [JB emphasis] was countered by the US. US Vice President Mike Pence invited Fred Warmbier, the father of the late Otto Warmbier, to South Korea for the Winter Olympics opening ceremony. Otto, a University of Virginia student, died after being held captive in North Korea for 17 months.

The US imposed the largest-ever sanctions on Pyongyang when the Olympics were coming to an end, which made Kim's public diplomacy look like a specious victory. ...

The problem now is that there has been no trust left in Kim. No one believes he would give up nuclear weapons. This is the real challenge.

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