Singapore Summit Gave President Trump Chance To ‘know the enemy’

Regardless of whether the Trump-Kim summit succeeds or fails, President Trump was right to try the diplomatic route in an attempt to end North Korea’s nuclear hostility. Diplomacy is not just reserved for allies, but for hostile adversaries, too. As commander in chief, the president must explore all avenues for securing the safety of the American people, who are currently threatened by the prospect of a nuclear-capable Pyongyang that may have the ability to strike the United States.

The North Korean nuclear threat can no longer simply be ignored. The Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations kicked the can down the road for decades, and the road has come to an end. The “aid packages” and payoffs to the regime only encouraged Pyongyang’s rogue behavior and constant saber-rattling. Ignoring the threat only bought the Kim regime time to build up to the point where North Korea now has intercontinental ballistic missiles that may put the continental U.S. within range.

Many pundits have taken to social media and castigated the president for the act of meeting with Kim Jong Un. There is no question that Kim is a ruthless dictator who has been directly involved in the killings of countless innocents. However, moral posturing comes second to protecting the American homeland. There is no question that Kim Jong Un is the chief military commander of a nuclear-armed state. Whether we like it or not, Kim can no longer simply be ignored or disregarded. There are no signs that there is a quick fix to the human rights catastrophe that is North Korea. As the 21st century of American conflicts has shown elsewhere, it’s always a dangerous endeavor to attempt to manipulate a foreign country’s internal politics in an effort to bring a chosen political system to an adversarial nation, especially when it comes to Pyongyang’s longtime Stalinist regime. However, the United States can and should attempt to mitigate the threat that it poses, and diplomatic engagement is one tool in the American arsenal of statecraft.

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Donald Trump Tries Something Different With North Korea. He Deserves Credit.