The most noteworthy part of the recently released personal letter between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Trump is the letter Kim sent to Trump on September 21, 2018.

In his personal letter at the time, Kim Jong-un said, "I hope to discuss the issue of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula directly with Your Excellency (President Trump), not with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the future, and I think the excessive interest that President Moon is expressing on our issues right now is unnecessary. " he wrote.



It is an expression of Kim Jong-un's intentions that President Moon wants to be absent from the negotiations between the US and North Korea.



On September 21, 2018, when Kim Jong-un sent a personal letter to Trump, right after the inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang.

President Moon Jae-in visited Pyongyang from September 18 to 20, 2018, and on September 19, announced the “Pyongyang Joint Declaration,” an agreement between the leaders of the two Koreas.

In the Pyongyang Joint Declaration, Chairman Kim Jong-un and President Moon agreed to work closely together in the process of pursuing complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.



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The leaders of the two Koreas visited Mt. Baekdu together on September 20, the next day, and took pictures with the heavens and earth in the background. At this event, Kim Jong-un said, “We will continue to write a new history between North and South Korea by dipping our brushes in this water.” They also expressed their willingness to cooperate.

However, the very next day, on the 21st, in a letter sent to Trump, he expressed his intentions, saying, 'I hope President Moon is missing.'


Use South Korea as needed


As a result, it can be said that Kim Jong-un's meeting with President Moon and expressing his will for inter-Korean cooperation was nothing more than a gimmick.

What Kim Jong-un needed was negotiations with the United States, and South Korea was an entity that could be used as needed in the process.



Looking back on the situation in 2018, it is not difficult to find examples of North Korea using South Korea.



On May 24, 2018, when Trump announced the cancellation of the North Korea-U.S. summit, Kim Jong-un sent an SOS signal to President Moon the next day to meet him urgently.

And the leaders of the two Koreas met in a blitz at Tongilgak in Panmunjom on the 26th, a day later.

It is unprecedented for the leaders of the two Koreas to meet so urgently in one day.

It is said that Kim Jong-un was in a hurry to Trump's declaration of cancellation of the North Korea-U.S. summit, but as President Moon intervened at the request of Kim Jong-un, the US-DPRK summit in Singapore proceeded as planned.



If we look back at the process of North Korea normalizing relations with China in early 2018, we can see that North Korea took advantage of inter-Korean relations.



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North Korea, which fell into isolation following a series of ICBM tests in 2017, also had a difficult relationship with China.

China voted in favor of the 2017 UN Security Council resolution on sanctions against North Korea, which was significantly strengthened, and Kim Jong-un did not even meet with Xi Jinping's special envoy who visited North Korea.

The U.S. Secretary of State even publicly stated that he had been discussing ways to respond to a sudden change in North Korea with high-level Chinese officials.



However, in 2018, with the Pyeongchang Olympics as an opportunity, inter-Korean relations developed rapidly, and China had to listen to the news of North Korea through the South Korean government's special envoy to North Korea.

This is because, following the inter-Korean and North Korea-US summits, there is a growing concern that China could be alienated from the Northeast Asian landscape in a situation where the inter-Korean summit is also being discussed.



At this exquisite moment, Kim Jong-un made a request to visit China.

It was an irresistible time for China, and the North Korea-China summit was a surprise.

For North Korea, the long-cherished relationship between North Korea and China was restored at once.

The process of North Korea's approach to China via South Korea and the United States with the Pyeongchang Olympics as an opportunity was worthy of evaluation as a triumph of North Korean diplomacy that demonstrated skill.

By properly utilizing the South Korean card, North Korea has achieved the desired diplomatic outcome.

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Was there trust between the leaders of the two Koreas?


Although there were three inter-Korean summits in 2018 and many agreements were reached, it is questionable whether there was genuine trust between President Moon and Chairman Kim.

Some view the exchange of personal letters that continued until the end of President Moon's term as evidence of trust between the two leaders, but as seen in the letter revealed this time, it seems that Kim Jong-un's inner feelings were different from the outside.



In fact, it may be meaningless to discuss trust between leaders in international relations that are strictly based on national interests.

This is because, just because there is trust between leaders, national leaders cannot act against their national interests.

In a way, Kim Jong-un may have used President Moon to achieve favorable results for North Korea from the beginning.



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At the Pyongyang summit in September 2018, President Moon received a tremendous welcome.

Kim Jong-un greeted President Moon at the airport and gave him the opportunity to speak to 150,000 Pyongyang citizens at the May 1 Stadium as well as a car parade in downtown Pyongyang.

Also, on the last day of the talks, a historic scene was created where the leaders of the two Koreas climbed Mt. Baekdu together.



What kind of hospitality did Kim Jong-un, who would send a letter the very next day, saying, 'I wish President Moon was gone,' had this kind of hospitality?

Perhaps the hospitality in Pyongyang was a way of repaying President Moon for responding to the SOS during the crisis of the collapse of the North Korea-U.S. summit in May of that year.



(Photo = Yonhap News)