NORTH KOREA

Our friend, Kim Joohoon, tried to bring me up to speed on facts about both Koreas, bless his heart. We hear so little truth about North Korea that it was an eye-opener for me.

North Korea was “richer” than South Korea until 1970. From the early days of the Japanese occupation that started around 1900 (I don’t remember the exact dates), the Japanese recognized the natural wealth of the North. That is where the rivers are, the minerals, coal, farms, the stuff that feeds a civilization. Grand sums of capital were invested in the North during the occupation which ended, of course, as WWII ended. Meanwhile, the South was mountains and a small strip along the coast with fishing villages.

President Trump said there was no need to continue the summit as Chairman Kim Jong Un wanted too much. There was no common ground. This is, in my experience, how negotiations go. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t.

In the press conference, President Trump spoke of his regret that there was no way to proceed. He said that North Korea had so much potential and he would like nothing better than to lift the sanctions. Now if Kerry and Obama were in charge, would we proceed to get some sort of thing like the Iran Deal? It is difficult to get information, though, as the press is more interested in Cohen and AOC.

Speaking of the Japanese occupation, read about the Rape of Nanking to discover what kind of brutality the Japanese dumped on their subjects. Koreans alive today have parents and grandparents that were slaves. It ended within my life time…barely, but still within my life.

Another factoid that I think we have talked about on this forum is the way the US helped South Korea leap out of the disaster that was the Korean War. We needed help on the ground in Viet Nam, and paid South Korea significant sums to provide troops and goods. In most emerging economies, from Eastern Europe to Africa, wave some cash and the rulers start opening up Swiss bank accounts. Park Chung Hee was undoubtedly a dictator although we prefer to call him “an experienced president,” but he took the money and invested it in heavy industry, ship building, automobiles and the like. Outfits like Samsung, Hyundai and others are the result. Admirable.

Don’t count Trump out. This shines a brutal spotlight on the idiocy of Chairman Kim. Even China is getting a bit impatient with his petulance. We’ll see.