President Trump meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Credit: Chung Sung-Jun / Getty
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The choice of Hanoi for the Donald Trump Kim Jong-Un summit was wonderfully ironic since the city provides a cautionary tale about the fate of communism in a global capitalist economy. A student once sent me a photo from the city. In the foreground was a river, in the river the remains of an American bomber jutting out of the water. In the background, on the riverbank, was a row of luxury condos like those that might be seen in a docklands development in Liverpool.
That photo juxtaposed two attempts to defeat communism, one futile, the other enormously successful. The US spent billions of dollars and nearly 60,000 lives trying to eradicate communism from Vietnam. They were humiliated and finally withdrew in 1975. Communism was gradually undermined when Coca-Cola, Levis and those condos arrived.
Trump loves condos. He sees Vietnam as a perfect example of what North Korea might become with a little encouragement from the good old USA. Just before the summit, he tweeted:
Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth. North Korea would be the same, and very quickly, if it would denuclearize. The potential is AWESOME, a great opportunity, like almost none other in history, for my friend Kim Jong Un. We will know fairly soon – Very Interesting!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 27, 2019
In another tweet, the President predicted that “Chairman Kim will make a wise decision!” Trump, bless him, clearly cannot understand why anyone would ever reject economic development. To him, it seems inconceivable that beautiful North Korean beaches have no hotels on them.
On Thursday, Kim made a decision, but it was not – by Trump’s standards – wise. He refused to give up his nukes in exchange for the removal of sanctions. He turned his back on that economic miracle. Most commentators, including Trump himself, have concluded that Kim is too enamoured of his weapons. That’s probably true, but my own guess is that he’s also justifiably frightened of what economic development will mean for his dictatorship.
According to Michael Green, a North Korea expert who advised George W. Bush, Kim “wants cash. He wants the U.S. to agree to lift U.N. … sanctions.” But he wants development that he can control, not the sort that Trump envisages. “He does not want the kind of opening that China or Vietnam did, where foreigners wander around the countryside talking about democracy.” More importantly, he realises that if his people cease to suffer, they will become harder to control. On that point, he’s right.
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