Korea: Trouble in peace-making paradise?

On Friday, North and South Korean leaders met at a landmark summit where they discussed finally calling an end to the Korean War which has been going on for decades.

It emerged on Saturday, however, that North Korean state media – the only media allowed in North Korea – has downplayed the major pledge given to the South by leader Kim Jong-un. Kim agreed to undergo denuclearisation which would cool the tensions between the two regions and the rest of the world, particularly the United States. The downplaying of this on state media, however, shows that there may indeed be trouble in peace-making paradise.

The very fact that a state-sponsored programme has dismissed denuclearisation perhaps shows a number of things, the most significant being the maintaining of the Kim regime in North Korea. The struggle for power between leaders of the North and South for all of these years has often been about regime and freedom due to the North’s aggressive communist rule. It seems very clear at this point that it is highly unlikely we will see regime change within North Korea, especially as denuclearisation is also virtually improbable.

After all, it is unlikely that North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons programme, given that it has taken the region decades to build up – and it now gives them a share of international power and status. Historian Alex Wellerstein said “it would be extremely strange” for Kim to “give up a deterrent right after attaining it”, before going on to say that an end to the North’s nuclear weapons programme would be “the strangest possible outcome”.

So, all in all, there is trouble in peace-making paradise as it seems that yet again, despite promises from North Korea, they are not ready to give up or change for a new Korean order, let alone a new world one.