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| U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stand before a group of journalists at the Pamunjom truce village last Sunday. Yonhap |
By Oh Young-jin
What surprises might be in the next episode of the Trump Show, the reality show starring U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un?
Do not blame me for calling the two "buddies"' affairs a reality show. After last Sunday's meeting at the Panmunjom truce village in Korea's demilitarized zone, Yael Kushner, better known as Ivanka and Trump's daughter, called her DMZ visit with her father "surreal."
Media outlets' reports boiled down to it being less reality than show.
The whole process leading up to the Kim-Trump meeting appears implausible. While in Osaka for the G20 meeting before hopping over to Korea, Trump sent a twitter message that he wanted to go to the DMZ, the four kilometer-wide no man's land separating the two Koreas since the 1950-53 Korean War, and say hello to Kim.
Then the former reality show host masterfully built up the level of expectation for his encounter with Kim, giving out one titillating clue after another during his 24-hour stay in Seoul for a summit with President Moon Jae-in.
Equally implausible was word that came from the North ― Kim would come to the DMZ to receive Trump.
The reason for Kim to rise to the occasion after being given the cold shoulder during their Hanoi summit remains a mystery.
It is possible that Kim has become desperate to get friendly and create an atmosphere for the most severe sanctions to be lifted. Kim may be as eager as Trump to stay at the top of the news cycle and as willing to grab any chance to get back to it. That issue may be dealt with some other time.
Clearly, Kim did not want to share the spotlight with anybody except Trump. Days before the DMZ meeting, the North's state media quoted a lowly foreign ministry official as warning President Moon Jae-in to keep out from the North-U.S. affairs. Moon was all but sidelined during the Trump-Kim meeting.
In the DMZ, Kim and Trump met and acted affectionately, as if they were brothers or father and son or nephew and uncle.
Kim came down from the northern side of Panmunjom and shook hands with Trump. Kim led Trump to step over the Demarcation Line, the boundary made of concrete, into North Korean territory and Trump ventured several more steps than President Moon did during the inter-Korean summit.
Kim was heard telling Trump that he would be the first incumbent U.S. president who to set foot in the North.
The two had a private meeting with just their foreign ministers.
There was commotion among reporters eager to take photos of the two in the unprecedented situation and the leaders' bodyguards. The chaotic scene, shown on TV, added some reality to their meeting that otherwise could have been dismissed as all show.
My favorite part came as Trump, standing together with Moon and Kim, turned slightly in the direction of the cameras and immediately put to rest an agitated gaggle of reporters fighting for better shots in a melee with the security detail.
It is exhilarating to look at the DMZ drama even though it is almost a week old.
Naturally, I am eager to know what Trump ― director, lead actor, script writer and producer of the show all at once ― is up to after a smashing success in Korea. What comes next?
Let me guess. One possibility has Kim traveling to the United States to visit the White House. Trump talked about extending his invitation before going into a one-on-one meeting with Kim. Then, when the U.S. President came out, he said Kim had accepted his invitation without saying when. Maybe the two have already agreed on Kim's time to visit the White House but concealed it for maximum effect to Trump's benefit.
Kim promised to make a reciprocal visit to Seoul by the end of last year during Moon's visit to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. He has not come yet.
If Kim's Washington visit precedes his Seoul trip, it wouldn't be so bad. It would be another spectacle to watch. As long as the two leaders are chummy, the tension on the Korean Peninsula is likely to remain low.
During his South Korean trip, Trump kept boasting that he was the one who brought the peninsula back from the brink of war, a situation to which his predecessor Barack Obama had incompetently contributed.
But can a reality show solve all the problems with North Korea? Aren't we all too drunk with the melodramatic euphoric effects of the Trump Show? After all, little has changed except that Trump is moving around the props to give viewers an illusion that things are getting better when they are not.
Didn't we start with the aim of separating the North from its nuclear programs? Has any great progress been made on that front? Is there any chance the Trump-Kim bromance will lead to the recognition of the North as a nuclear weapon state? What maleficent changes are in store involving nuclear-armed North Korea?
No doubt viewers are eagerly waiting for the next episode no matter what the real reality may be.
