Trump: Dramatic Visit to North Korea as First "Sitting" President — Historic Indeed

Trump & Kim at Panmun-jom (DMZ) to/from North Korea

(June 30, 2019)

Intro to following story: On March 17, 2009, North Korea detained two American journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who were working for Current TV (defunct since August 2013) after they crossed into NK from China without visas.

They were found guilty of illegal entry and sentenced to twelve years' hard labor in June 2009. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il pardoned the two on August 5, 2009, the day after former President Bill Clinton arrived in North Korea on a publicly unannounced visit and negotiated their release.

Clinton meets Kim Jong-Il (Kim Jong-Un’s father)

(In North Korea: August 5, 2009)

That story is here (from CNN, August 5, 2009) with full details.

Then lest we forget this trip to North Korea by former President Jimmy Carter, June 18, 1994 – story here (NY Times) and highlighted in part below:

Carter meets Kim Il-Sung (Kim Jong-Un’s grandfather) 

(In North Korea: June 18, 1994)

Completing his mission to North Korea, former President Jimmy Carter hugged the country's dictator, Kim Il-Sung and called the trip “a good omen,” that also immediately touched off a squabble with the Clinton Administration over whether North Korea had specifically offered to freeze its nuclear weapons development project.

President Clinton and his advisers, who had originally said Mr. Carter was on a private trip and then became televised participants in the delicate talks with the North Korean leader, Kim Il-Sung, clearly distanced themselves from the former President's initiative.

[Note: North Korea and South Korea have agreed to hold a summit meeting to resolve nuclear tensions as the AP reported South Korean officials saying. It also quoted them as saying “…the North Korean leader had proposed the meeting through Mr. Carter and that South Korean President Kim Young-Sam had accepted but that the details have yet to be worked out.”] 

My 2 cents: Trump may be the first “sitting” president to step into North Korea (June 30, 2019), and he certainly gets credit for that, but the stories about former president Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter going there and getting those two American journalists released and possible peace talks from Carter are remarkable. 

Although some disconnect between Carter and Clinton developed re: not any official statement (which is always expected in these matters). But that’s a story for later.

Trump hates to be outdone or overshadowed by anyone, and especially Barack Obama and any Clinton. Thus Trump will do or say or try or lie or imply or deny anything to belittle anyone and recapture the limelight, good, bad, or indifferent. 

That is Trump’s m.o. (modus operandi). Problem is Clinton and Carter got results – Trump mostly does not – we shall see. Stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by.