Following a meeting on April 27 between Moon Jae-in, president of the Republic of [South] Korea and Kim Jong-un, president of the Democratic People’s Republic of [North] Korea (DPRK), Trump met with North Korean President Kim Jong-un in Singapore on Tuesday June 12.  Their agreement, if followed through, would represent a substantial advance for peace on the Korean Peninsula and in East Asia.  In addition, it would hugely benefit the working class and people of our country.

We cannot say for certain what is motivating Trump because this is not a normal presidency. It could reflect an appeal to his base for the 2018 elections, his contempt for all things Obama, protectionism or some other reason.

And the Communist Party USA is perfectly aware of the nature of Trump and his administration. Right-wing extremism and militarism characterizes his domestic and foreign policies and he has connections to white supremacists and fascists.

Trump has withdrawn the United States from the Paris climate agreement and from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran.  Moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is highly provocative, and his administration has firmly allied the U.S. with the most reactionary segment of Israeli politics.

Trump has also backed away from steps taken by the Obama administration to normalize relations with Cuba.  Under Trump the U.S. continues to support a Saudi led military intervention in Yemen that has cost thousands of innocent lives.  And Trump and his allies continue to back some of the most reactionary and corrupt regimes around the world.

Nevertheless, an agreement among the two Koreas and the United States that results in an end to the 68-year-old Korean war through a formal peace treaty, reduces tensions, removes all nuclear weapons from in and around the Korean Peninsula, and withdraws U.S. troops would be a major step forward for the two Koreans, the region and world.  The risk of war would be averted, damaging sanctions imposed on the North would be lifted, the longed for promise of Korean unification would be a bit closer, and a reduction of armaments would free up badly needed public funds in all three countries to address domestic needs.

The joint communication after the Singapore meeting was general and vague, but is a step in the right direction, which we regard as positive.

Many elected officials of the Republican and Democratic Parties and most of the corporate media have denounced the Singapore agreement.  This is unhelpful and wrong, and reveals both a continuation of a Cold War mentality and a lack of understanding of the Korea situation and the developments, which led up to Singapore.

They include the history of the Korean War and the destruction wrought by U.S. military action, the failure of past U.S. administrations to honor previous agreements, and the valuable diplomatic work by the People’s Republic of China and South Korean President Moon, which made this tentative breakthrough possible.

China, whose influence is growing internationally, has worked for a long time to defuse the Korean crisis, reduce tensions, denuclearize the peninsula and encourage the DPRK to open up to the global community.

A sea change has taken place in South Korean politics too. Moon assumed office when South Korean voters rejected the previous ultra-right government, which had been a major obstacle to improving the relations. An overwhelming majority of South Korean people supports the peace process, a development, which also isolated Trump and undercut his threats of nuclear annihilation.

The Communist Party USA believes rather than condemning the agreement, pressure should now be exerted on the Trump administration to make sure it carries out what it agreed to do in Singapore.

There is a real danger the most hawkish reactionary elements within the Trump administration’s military and foreign policy establishment will sabotage further progress; these include Secretary of State Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton who in the past have called for military action against the DPRK and other civilian and military officials, plus the armaments industry and other major capitalist sectors.

Nor can we expect consistency from Trump himself.  In spite of possible progress on Korea, Trump has tried to scuttle the Iran nuclear agreement, which begs the question: why is an agreement to denuclearize okay with the DPRK but not Iran?

This is the best way to serve the interests of the working classes and peoples of the two Koreas, the United States and the world.  The majority of people of our country want world peace and an end to the threat of nuclear war, and the only way to satisfy this longing is through peaceful negotiations, not jacking up tensions.

A group of Democratic Party Representatives in the U.S. Congress has bucked the leadership of their party that blindly rejects this tentative agreement, and issued a letter in support of the negotiations.  These legislators include Representatives Ro Khanna, Raul Grijalva, Barbara Lee, Mark Pocan, Pramila Jayapal, Tulsi Gabbard, Bobby Rush, Zoe Lofgren, Madeleine Bordallo, Colleen Hanabusa, Mark DeSaulnier, Richard Nolan, Karen Bass, Jared Huffman and Jamie Raskin. Others should be encouraged to support this positive initiative.

Image: Wikepedia

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