Trump of Kim: “I will guarantee his safety…” The Kim government has the worst human rights record in the world according to the UN.

“I will guarantee his safety… And we’ve talked about that from the beginning. He will be safe. He will be happy. His country will be rich. His country will be hardworking and very prosperous. They’re very great people…”

The expression on Kim’s face in this photo is either completely obscure or else one of doubt– as if he doesn’t believe what you are saying, nor should you believe what he says.

What President Trump is saying in the above quote is an absurd blanket guarantee that Kim will be “safe”– not that we won’t attack him, not that we are declaring the willingness to sign a permanent peace treaty, but that we will protect him from such things as regime change, food poisoning, or a Chinese coup.

In addition, he is offering that North Korea itself will be safe and rich, without suggesting how that could happen.  He doesn’t say that he is offering them a real estate deal on a luxury hotel by the beach, although that could be on offer.   He is simply using words that fit into his propaganda context without any foundation in mechanisms or logistics.

If we guarantee Kim’s safety, that implies that we would protect him from regime change, that is a coup or a popular uprising.  That puts us in the position of protecting the head of the government with the worst human rights record in the world, according to the UN.  Worst in the world: that’s saying a lot.

That is the essential ugliness of President Trump’s detente with Kim Jong Un: he is a homicidal tyrant.  We could tolerate the declaration of non-aggression and the agreement to “denuclearize” Korea, but we can’t swallow Mr. Trump’s sucking up to Kim, his fulsome praise, his buddy-buddy attitude.

We do need to guarantee peace on the Korean peninsula, but we don’t need to be friends with Kim Jong Un.

(photo courtesy of pixabay.com)