Park Ji-won is a writer for The Korea Times who has been covering a wide range of topics from Korea’s culture to its politics. An avid journalism enthusiast to the core, Ji-won brings a thoughtful and unique perspective to every topic she covers. On weekends, you'll often find her contemplating life’s purpose on a yoga mat — with a cup of quality tea in hand. A native Korean speaker by birth and fluent in English through her work, she went to college in Japan and is learning Chinese and French — hoping to add Polish, Russian and Thai to the mix.
Trump's captionless Kim Jong-un photo sparks talk of renewed North Korea diplomacy
This image shows U.S. President Donald Trump's Truth Social post, uploaded Sunday, of a captionless photo of Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un walking in a garden in Singapore on June 12, 2018 during a bilateral summit. Captured from Trump's Truth Social account
By Park Ji-won
Analysts see Pyongyang as back on radar as war with Iran ends
Hours after declaring an end to the war with Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump posted a captionless photo of himself with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un — a move experts say signals openness to renewed summit talks with Pyongyang, even if North Korea is unlikely to become an immediate priority for the administration.
Trump uploaded the image to Truth Social on Sunday (local time), showing him walking with Kim through a garden in Singapore on June 12, 2018, during the summit at which the two leaders agreed to pursue denuclearization and improved bilateral ties. The post came roughly an hour after Trump announced the U.S. would sign a deal with Iran Monday, an agreement he said would bar Iran from possessing nuclear weapons and lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
“Barack Hussein Obama’s Deal with Iran, the JCPOA, was an easy, beautiful, smooth road to a Nuclear Weapon, which Iran would have had six years ago, and would have used long before now. My Agreement with Iran is the exact opposite, A WALL TO NO NUCLEAR WEAPON! In fact, they no longer want a Nuclear Weapon, nor will they have one, either through purchase, development, or any other form of procurement. The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL,” Trump wrote.
South Korea's foreign ministry responded cautiously to the posting.
“South Korea and the U.S. have consistently said that the two countries are open with talks with North Korea to resolve the North’s nuclear issue. The South Korean government will continue to take efforts to resume talks (with the North) through close cooperation between South Korea and the U.S.,” the ministry said, Monday.
Social media post by U.S. President Donald Trump announcing a deal with Iran to end their war, Sunday. Reuters-Yonhap
Analysts described the post as an example of Trump's preference for strategic ambiguity, intentionally leaving room to interpret his next moves following the end of the Iran war.
“Posting a captionless photo is a Trumpian tactic, leaving the move open to interpretation while signaling a desire to keep the door open for renewed dialogue and negotiation with Pyongyang after the war with Iran,” Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean Studies at Ewha Womans University, said, adding that signing a peace deal with Iran is not enough to solidify his presidential legacy through the resolution of long-standing U.S. conflicts.
“In his push to wind down decades-old hostilities with America’s traditional adversaries, Cuba and North Korea remain the final pieces on the board.”
Stressing that doubts remain over whether North Korea will actually move to the top of his foreign policy agenda, Park said, “Even so, the possibility of another summit is not off the table. Kim Jong-un has his own conditions, but relations between Trump and Kim remained relatively stable last year, and Pyongyang’s recent 9th Party Congress indicated there is no fundamental reason for either side to avoid improving ties.”
Sean Nottoli, a visiting fellow at the Danube Institute, said the post was a deliberate signal that North Korea remains relevant to Washington's strategic agenda.
“While it doesn't guarantee a summit is imminent, it does suggest that North Korea very much remains on the administration's strategic radar,” Nottoli told The Korea Times.
Nottoli pointed to China's growing influence over North Korea as a possible motivation behind the timing, aiming to seize control of the narrative.
“Beijing appears to be working to reinforce its influence over Pyongyang at a time when China is facing growing competition with the United States across the Indo-Pacific. Washington, under President Trump, has previously demonstrated that it is open to directly engaging with North Korea, and that engagement would serve multiple purposes, such as reducing uncertainty on the Korean Peninsula and potentially limiting Beijing's ability to use North Korea as a source of regional pressure,” he said.
“President Trump has shown that he prefers conducting diplomacy leader to leader and values personal relationships. It would not be surprising if he viewed renewed dialogue with Kim Jong-un as a way to test whether North Korea has strategic options beyond complete dependence on China.”