Worth talking

I've been away from the blog for a while. I'm likely to stay that way for another few weeks, but a lot of people have been asking me what I think of the summit that will start in about an hour between the U.S. and North Korea.

I don't see the harm in talking to Kim Jong Un. I've never seen the harm in it. For a long time, I listened as very respected diplomats and think tank chiefs opined that even meeting with North Korea in a bilateral setting would somehow "legitimize" the regime. It would "give Kim exactly what he wants," although nobody is at all certain what it is he wants.

I've never understood why it wasn't worth talking. We know so little about Kim himself. If nothing else, this would give the people who have to make decisions about Kim a chance to observe him up close and to interact with him. It's not perfect information, but it's a lot more than what exists now.

Some argue that Kim is an abuser of human rights, and no U.S. President should ever talk to him. There are a lot of other human rights abusers in the world the U.S. talks to all the time. Kim isn't a bigger abuser just because his country is more idiosyncratic about its abuses. Yes, terrible things happen in North Korea. I've read plenty of testimonies from defectors on DailyNK. But if you thought you could make life in North Korea better for a few people by talking to him, shouldn't you talk to him? Especially if it might make the rest of the world safer in the process? If you could talk to the devil and give everyone in hell a glass of water, don't you have to shake the devil's hand and smile at him? 

This could be a waste of time. It could be another false start. If it is, we're no worse off than we were. The reason administrations have been reticent to take decisive action for decades now is because there aren't a lot of good options. Seoul has always been hostage to a ton of North Korean artillery. All options are risky.

Well, someone seems to think it was a good idea to go to Singapore. 

In a situation like this where no orthodox options seem good, unorthodox options ought to be on the table. If there is an advantage to having a non-politician in the highest office in the land, it's for moments like this. It's been dogma for a long time that talking directly wouldn't get us anywhere. I like when someone kicks the tires on dogmas.

I'll be watching YTN in an hour. I'll stay up late and I'll get up early to watch. I'm excited, but guardedly so. There is nothing but upside to this, and even if that upside never materializes, it ought to be interesting to watch what happens.