The international community was surprised by the shocking news that US President Donald Trump agreed to meet Kim Jong-un to discuss denuclearization and the future development of the isolated country. Why did the DPRK propose to talk directly with the United States? And why the United States agreed? Robert Lawrence Kuhn discussed evolving developments with Zheng Jiyong, Director of the Center for Korean Studies of Fudan University. 

“The DPRK believes that the United States will play the biggest role in solving its so-called security problems and many follow-up economic development issues. Therefore, the target of all its actions, including the nuclear and missile experiments, is the United States. The DPRK believes only if its nuclear force was elevated to a level which can frighten the U.S. and threaten its security, will the United States come to talk. However, even though this goal now has not been achieved, yet, the U.S. still agreed to the talk. Why? Besides the reasons already mentioned, the DPRK also recognized that with the pressure from neighboring countries and the international community, nuclear weapons will not bring real security to the country. Rather, that has made the security environment even worse. The sense of insecurity caused by possessing nuclear weapons prevails now. In this case, the DPRK intends to propose that the abandonment of nuclear weapons and denuclearization were the wish of late leaders. Under such circumstances, the DPRK and the U.S. will sit down and talk, since the DPRK’s vision of denuclearization also meets the demands of the U.S. in Northeast Asia.”