Trump-Kim summit exploded: Seoul is not angry, Seoul is disappointed

"Good evening, dear North Koreans, we are the North Korean reform radio, let us create a new land of hope together."

Tonight, around 11:30 pm Korean time, some North Koreans will sit at their radios and hear the news. Not the state radio. But a program that was produced in the neighboring country, in the South Korean capital Seoul. It will announce the abrupt end of the summit between its ruler Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump.

The North Koreans will risk a lot, because listening to foreign radio is strictly prohibited, and the regime has exacerbated the repression in recent years. However, an estimated one million listened in the evening from 11:30 pm and in the morning from 5:30 am for one hour to the broadcast of the small North Korean reform radio. Only at this time is it considered reasonably safe. Some make their own receivers.

The director of the small radio station, Kim Seung Chul, 58 years old, himself fled North Korea and came to Seoul in 1994. He had to leave his family behind. Kim says he wants to educate and educate people in the north, so that they have the courage to make their own decisions.

Katharina Peters

Kim Seung Chul, director of the North Korean reform radio

What is the meaning of the summit? What are the motives of Kim Jong Un and Trump? As he prepares for his show the day before, presenter Kim is not optimistic: "I have no big expectations, Kim Jong Un does not really want to atomically deconstruct."

But he wants to give his listeners answers and background information about the most important questions around the summit. For Thursday afternoon he invited two guests to the studio. The program will be recorded and broadcast in the evening.

Kim Seung Chul: "If Kim Jong Un comes home without results, will he be weakened as leader of the country?"

Studio guest: "Many young people could lose hope."

Kim Seung Chul: "People in the markets are hoping that the sanctions will be eased and they hope for good news from the summit."

In North Korea, there are more and more markets that were initially illegal, but are now tolerated by the regime. Human rights defenders are demanding more rights for traders. Anyway, the situation of human rights in North Korea is "still extremely serious," said the UN Special Rapporteur for North Korea, Tomás Ojea Quintana, weeks before the summit in Hanoi. Not enough has been said recently about how bad the rural population is, especially.

Ahn Myeong Chol, 51, who swam through a river in 1994 to escape from North Korea, also finds this. He himself was a guard in a detention center and reported to the United Nations on the atrocities he experienced there. He, like many other North Korean refugees, is stunned that now so little is said about the human rights violations. "I am very disappointed with Trump," he said before the meeting. "When talking about nuclear disarmament, you should also talk about human rights."

MIRROR ONLINE

Ahn Myeong Chol, human rights activist

It is not about human rights, but apparently about the easing of sanctions demanded by North Korea is quarreled on Thursday in Hanoi. Even as radio host Kim talks to his guests in the afternoon, the first reports are coming that the summit meeting will be shortened. Meanwhile, images of empty streets and Vietnamese security forces are flickering over a monitor.

A studio guest says, "Kim Jong The problem with us is that he traveled to the summit without a clear idea of ​​denuclearization."

The screen now shows a column of black cars with blue lights.

The other studio guest says, "Do you know the president of Tanzania? No, no one knows him, but everyone knows Kim Jong Un for his nuclear weapons."

How dangerous the Kim regime can be, people in Seoul know. After all, they are constantly living in latent threat from the north. Nevertheless, a survey by the Institute Realmeter in mid-February, an optimistic sentiment in South Korea: almost two-thirds of respondents expected important results from the meeting in Hanoi. About 63 percent believed it could make progress. Without the support of the US, the peace process can not move forward.

Those who talked to the people on the streets of Seoul before the Hanoi showdown, especially among older people, felt how strongly they touched the momentary rapprochement of the two Koreas. "I want this conflict to finally come to an end," said 56-year-old housewife Choi Un Jeong. "We should finally talk to each other as people of a people should be able to visit us."

Younger people were often less positive. For many of them, the economy is the most important issue, they worry about their future since the unemployment rate rises. In cooperation with North Korea, they see little benefit, even if the South Korean President Moon Jae In stresses that peace can promote economic growth. For Friday, Moon had announced a big speech on how he wants to continue the peace process.

But especially young men, who often complete their almost two-year military service on the heavily secured border with North Korea, are skeptical of an opening. "I was in the military," said Son Jean Ho, 25 years old. "I can not believe Kim Jong Un is serious."

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Even 19-year-old student Ko Myung Jee did not trust the honest intentions of both summit attendees: "Kim Jong Un will not give up his nuclear weapons, Trump knows that, but he's still meeting with him to make his poll ratings better." This summit is meaningless. "

How right she would be, shows shortly after radio host Kim ended his broadcast on Thursday. Agencies announce that the top meeting in Hanoi ends without result. The column of black cars brings Trump to the press conference, where he explains the failure of the summit.

When he hears about it, journalist Kim laughs briefly. "Kim Jong Un will have a tough time now, his lead could be weakened."

The state media of North Korea will probably portray this differently.