Sir, – The President of the United States’s decision to step across the 38th parallel on Sunday morning into North Korea marked a significant change in the norms of US foreign policy.
When President Trump informed the media prior to the G20 Summit that he had written to Chairman Kim to invite him to the Korean Demilitarised zone, it appeared that the president was pandering to the dictator. However, both men did rendezvous at the military demarcation line. President Trump’s decision to cross the line into North Korea at the invitation of Kim, becoming the first US president to do so, was unforeseen and consequential.
It marked a resounding divergence between the policies of the Trump administration and foreign policy which has guided America’s aims and interests for half a century. Previous administrations would not have afforded rogue states a meeting in front of the world media, which is in itself a sign of validation. It also signified the president’s eagerness to normalise relations and to bring North Korea into the Western neo-liberal economic fold.
However, one must question the moral reasoning of Mr Trump to normalise and appease an authoritarian leader who violates the human rights of his people.
Furthermore, his tribute to the leader of Saudi Arabia in Osaka, a nation which murdered an American journalist, proves Trump’s veneration for the cult of personality which surrounds dictatorial leaders such as Kim and Mohammad bin Salman.
The president should define the moral character of the nation. He is certainly failing in that respect. – Yours, etc,
JUDE PERRY,
Ballymote,
Sligo.
Sir, – The historic meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un at the demilitarised zone (DMZ) that divides the two Koreas was the diplomatic equivalent of Lanigan’s Ball: Trump stepped in and Trump stepped out again. Kim stepped out and Kim stepped in again. – Yours, etc,
PAUL DELANEY,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.