By Here is an interesting quote from Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama from yesterday’s YouTube debate:
Obama said he would be willing to meet individually with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea during the first year of his presidency. "The notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them, which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration, is ridiculous," Obama said to applause.
So let me get this right, President Obama would be willing to fly into Pyongyang to negotiate with Kim Jong-il which would be the ultimate propaganda coup for the North Korean government because they can say that the US President has come to Pyongyang to officially apologize for imperialism, starting the Korean War, or whatever propaganda taking point they want to insert for example. That is why Kim Jong-il will not visit Seoul because it makes him look weak compared to watching President Roh do everything possible to arrange a second inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang. A visit by the American president to Pyongyang only makes him look even more powerful to the people he oppresses.
Plus such a meeting would accomplish nothing because as I have been saying over and over again Kim Jong-il will not turn over the nuclear weapons he currently possesses. However, the propaganda generated from it would be powerful. Just imagine if you are the average North Korean and you see not only multiple presidents of South Korea toasting Kim Jong-il and now the US President is toasting him too? Such a meeting would effectively destroy any domestic opposition to Kim Jong-il.
6:06 am on July 26th, 2007 1
[...] Obama Looking to Meet with Kim Jong-il [...]
2:33 pm on July 25th, 2007 2
the funny part is a lot of americans will fall for this crap even though everyone on that list hates america, hates americans, and hated us well before george bush got into office
politics is a very simple process after so many years of one guy or party americans vote the opposite way just to exercise their democratic process
this should be no surprise as liberals and democrats use this blind and ignorant views of the world to pander votes
even though it would probably never happen
2:53 pm on July 25th, 2007 3
Hillary actually shot Obama down pretty well and I would say looked the most experienced and presidential out of all them. I really think if the Congress wasn't controlled by the Democrats, a Hillary presidency wouldn't be the end of the world.
3:06 pm on July 25th, 2007 4
Well, before 1972 mainstream US voters would have thought it a crazy idea for Nixon to meet with Mao, for example. What a piece of propaganda! We will never talk to bloody tyrants! Then look what happened: rapprochement with China, triangular diplomacy, the Soviet Union outsmarted and outgunned, the world changed, the Cold War ultimately won. And who has won anything from making loud farts? Thumbs up for Obama!
4:42 pm on July 25th, 2007 5
Observer; just a note here. The Soviets were not outsmarted or outgunned. They were outSpent. It would never happen today. The Soviets would talk the liberals into cutting Defence spending in the interest of peace and good faith. President Obama would be captured on one of his meetings with a "bloody tyrants". I don't even want to think about what the liberals would give up after that.
5:09 pm on July 25th, 2007 6
I think there is a difference between being a blind liberal versus being a liberal with progressive views.
I think we should engage the other side. Look where cutting off contact with Cuba has gotten us, nothing. The same with Iran after the hostage crisis during the Carter administration.
The question is "how" to engage them bearing in mind all the implications that go with it.
If you think that during the current administration we haven't been talking to the North Koreans you're fooling yourselves. We have been. It just hasn't been high-level heads of state.
Obama said what he believed and it's the moment people have been waiting for from him: a vulnerability. Obama doesn't have the international experience that Clinton does.
Again, I don't think it would be a bad idea to talk to the heads of state that we oppose. Kim Jong-il's regime isn't going to collapse even if a US president doesn't talk to him. That much we've seen with the current administration. There will be no internal implosion of the DPRK because too many nations, including China and South Korea, prefer the status quo and will make sure it stays.
If a US president does talk to Kim Jong-il (which I doubt even if it's Obama), sure it would be good for them in Pyongyang to broadcast on TV. However, they're already worshiping him.
Have you not seen the 2004 film "A State of Mind" where a Korean family in Pyongyang was watching some North Korean event – I think the soliders were goosestep marching as they usually do and someone said something about how America would be scared at their display of might. Please. That woman's comment actually made me laugh when I saw that scene.
Those people are so removed from reality that, sure, it would be used to prove Dear Leader is too great for words, but they already think that.
12:48 pm on July 26th, 2007 7
[...] Drop: Obama Looking to Meet with Kim Jong-ilPosted 19 hours agoHere is an interesting quote from Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama [...]
12:15 am on July 26th, 2007 8
People like Christopher Hill are used to negotiate with Kim Jong-il not the US president. When you hold a summit the end state has to be determined in advance. When Nixon went to China the results of the summit were already known before he even went. The details of the prior negotiations with the Chinese over that summit are actually very interesting if you read about it.
If Obama went to Pyongyang with a result already known such as Kim Jong-il giving up all his nuclear weapons and HEU program than Obama would not be a simple propaganda piece because he got something out of the North Koreans. By simply going to Pyongyang and getting nothing out of it is pointless and simply very naive.
Hillary should know because here husband set off the second intifadah in the West Bank after the failed Camp David talks with Arafat. The results of those talks were not locked in in advance.
Also when you watch the shows about NK and all the people worshipping Kim Jong-il keep in mind that in Pyongyang they do worship him while in the countryside there has been plenty of acts of resistance against the regime. Highly recommend reading Becker's book which covers many of the internal resistance acts. The defector accounts are also saying people away from the regime elite in Pyongyang are highly unhappy with Kim Jong-il. Plus the constant stream of video coming out of North Korea of human rights violations is also quite telling.
12:17 am on July 26th, 2007 9
Well I think Obama is done
2:35 pm on July 28th, 2007 10
Kim Jongil will misundertood and he will said, "Osama is coming? I love to meet him." After all we both hate US.
6:51 pm on August 8th, 2007 11
[...] and prosperity on the Korean peninsula" is on its way. The only question remaining is if Barack Obama can go with President Roh or [...]
11:46 pm on November 2nd, 2007 12
[...] hey “peace and prosperity on the Korean peninsula” is on its way. The only question remaining is if Barack Obama can go with President Roh or not. Actually predicting that a second inter-Korean summit was [...]
2:34 am on June 23rd, 2008 13
[...] but the candidates themselves have given the North Koreans plenty to judge them by. Both Obama and McCain have told us how they’d deal with the North Koreans. McCain has expressed [...]
6:41 am on June 23rd, 2008 14
[...] Jong-il must really be looking forward to that meeting with no pre-conditions by a Barack Obama administration: The Chosun Sinbo, the mouthpiece of North Korea’s Japanese [...]
5:27 am on June 25th, 2008 15
[...] but the candidates themselves have given the North Koreans plenty to judge them by. Both Obama and McCain have told us how they?d deal with the North Koreans. McCain has expressed his distaste [...]