Kim the Playmaker: To Flip The Course On Its Head, Especially After Completed His Arsenal
03 May 2018By
Ghassan Charbel
The football World Cup will take place this year and fans of the game are
highly anticipating the Russia-hosted event. We are bracing for and rejoicing
at this fever that is preparing to invade the world after a few weeks. I said
to myself that I should take a break from political news, which are often
smeared in blood.
The world would be a beautiful place if it indeed was held captive by the
World Cup. It would be beautiful if it were preoccupied with "General" Lionel
Messi instead of generals who destroy cities and their residents. It would be
beautiful if it were preoccupied with "General" Ronaldo and his invasions that
do not leave behind scores of orphans, widows and refugees. It would be
beautiful if the world shifted its gaze to Neymar's skill, wealth and future
projects or if it turned to Mohamed Salah and his transformation into a global
symbol and a trademark back home.
I will not hide the fact that I occasionally envy sports journalists. They
cover clean and beautiful wars. They interview men who do not kill. They spend
their time chasing the ball and its fans. They are not concerned with nuclear
ambitions that ensnare fearsome and fearful regimes. They are not obsessed
with ballistic missiles, especially when they are in the hands of men who
ignore international borders and treaties. They cover victories that do not
tear up maps or spark catastrophes. They spend their time following news about
clubs, teams, transfers and astronomical player wages, while we spend our time
between intimidating and misleading statements and militia innovations.
The world however was suddenly shaken by a development that took me out of my
football holiday. Someone has proven to be more adept than Messi, Ronaldo and
co. Kim Jong Un invaded the stage and stole the spotlight. The world was glued
to television screens. For the first time since the Korean war, which ended
some seven decades ago, a North Korean leader crossed the border in the
Demilitarized Zone that separates his country from the South. Kim walked over
with a handshake, dialogue and promises.
The world was shocked. This was the same man who made countries near and far
hold their breath several times last year. He rejoiced at the success of the
nuclear test just like a father rejoices at the birth of a long-awaited child.
With a provocative flamboyant smile, he oversaw ballistic missile tests,
making sure that they can reach American territories. Fate would have it that
Pyongyang would be ruled by a man whose future actions are unpredictable and
that Washington would be ruled by a newcomer whose reactions are
unpredictable. When the verbal war broke out between them, the world feared
for the worst. Donald Trump upped his pressure on Kim Il Sung's grandson. He
reminded him of the potential heavy prices and that all options were on the
table.
It was difficult for the Chinese president to find excuses for its reckless
neighbor. Comrade Vladimir Putin appeared distant and busy with the liberation
of Ghouta and Damascus' suburbs. Kim may have sensed that he would not have
the necessary support in the looming storm, so he decided to flip the course
on its head, especially after he completed his arsenal and fulfilled his
pledges to the military and his friends in the party.
If Kim really means what he said in the summit statement with South Korean
President Moon Jae In, then we are definitely standing before a historic
development that would change the picture, balances and the fate of millions
of people. The statement spoke of an agreement to continue international talks
in order to announce an end to the Korean War, reach "permanent" and "lasting"
peace and work for the "complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."
The prevalent belief was that Kim had no choice but to flounder further by
joining the nuclear club and considering the bomb as his "insurance policy."
Some firmly believed that he would be sitting on a rocket arsenal until the
collapse of his regime due to foreign sanctions and the people having grown
fed up with poverty, oppression and slogans that had died since the days of
his father. Kim, however, sprung the surprise and flipped the script.
It is hard to predict what went on in his head and persuaded him to alter his
course. Was he convinced that improving the economy would be impossible
without establishing a normal relationship with the world? Did someone recount
to him the story of the collapse of the Berlin Wall and how East Germany was
forced to throw itself in the lap of its Western half? Did he realize that the
time of nuclear and rocket blackmail is over and that Donald Trump is not at
all like Barack Obama? Was he taken aback by how far the South had advanced
technologically and democratically, so he decided to at least open a window?
Did he receive Chinese advice to offer concessions to the other Korea instead
of offering them at the table of his expected meeting with Trump? Did he dream
of receiving a pledge from the US similar to the one Fidel Castro obtained
after the Cuban Missile Crisis in which Washington vowed not to attack it
militarily in return for him to stop playing the part of the world's evil
child rocket-promoter?
These are many questions that should be approached with caution because the
game of peace is not easy for a regime built on fear and whose absolute leader
has an unlimited capacity to change course.
A country can no longer completely shut its windows and numb people with old
formulas. The fortress is no longer a fortress. Isolation chips away at walls
and pollutes the air. The nuclear bomb is not enough to satiate the hungry.
The images of the beloved leader cannot replace the three daily meals. The
rockets themselves are aging rapidly without new technology. Why would a poor
Korean be appeased when the other Korean enjoys latest technological advances?
The new world is seeping in without permission through the internet, telephone
and television.
It is very hard for a fortress to surrender. Transforming into a normal state
is not an easy task. Kim, however, may have spared his country the downward
spiral, suicide and collapse if he chose the systematic change and followed
the Chinese example, regardless of the differences between them.
The Korean example is not limited to itself. Can Iran, for example, shift from
the revolution to a normal country? What went through President Hassan
Rouhani's mind when he saw Kim cross over to the South?
The world is waiting for Kim's meeting with Trump. A meeting of two difficult
nuclear leaders, but if Kim could continue normalizing ties with the world,
then he may earn the Nobel peace prize, which he would share with Trump. The
scene-stealer won the first round. It is also likely that he stole the title
of "playmaker" from Messi and Ronaldo.
Ghassan Charbel is the editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper
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