MAIN POINT IS HOW TO EVALUATE RESULTS

As is said on the front page of this newspaper, the sole reason why the two political leaders could not reach an agreement lies in apparent discrepancy on ‘lifting sanctions’. That was a perplexing consequence.

Premier Abe will be laughed at again

President Trump walked away: if he weighed lifting of all sanctions against decommissioning nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, his action might be meaningful as he made a deal. Chairman Kim Jong Un demanded, however, partial relief of the UN sanctions, limiting to those on the private sector economy and on people’s life. Thus, responsibility for unfruitful reunion should be owed by President Trump.

If Prime Minister Abe Shinzo expressed hastily his total support of the US president, relying exclusively on the US-version report, as usual, the premier will be ridiculed again.

The US claim was perverse, if politics was not regarded as a tool of ‘a deal’ but was discussed sincerely. The number of nuclear warheads that DPRK possesses is just one several hundredth of those owned by the US. For these months DPRK has refrained from nuclear tests and has destroyed nuclear facilities as a sign of concession, while the US has just sized down the military maneuvers around the Korean Peninsula.

Overwhelming US missile power keeps setting its sight on DPRK. The US would not listen to a comment of Russian President Putin, who told ‘people in DPRK will develop nuclear potential even if they are obliged to eat grass, unless the US lifts the sanctions’. Furthermore, the US gives a tacit consent to nuclear capabilities of India and Pakistan, which are now in de facto state of war. Both of the two are nuclear powers and the world worries about a real war.

The Abe government, while pressing DPRK to demolish nuclear-related facilities, is keen to sell nuclear plants to India. The Japanese administration is, in addition, zealous to build a new military base at Henoko, Okinawa, which will be the biggest in the northeastern region of Asia. It employs a double-standard. To remove this kind of attitude is necessary to bring peace sooner in the Korean Peninsula, following the US-DPRK negotiation.

Mass media pay attention to how Premier behaves

Mass media in Japan keep reading carefully how the premier acts. They praise him, saying that Mr. Trump did not make an easy compromise. Meanwhile, they take too lightly President Moon Jae-in of Republic of Korea (ROK), saying that he had miscalculated what would happen. Reporters do not pay attention to peace in the East Asia region. They do not feel responsibility of Japan at all for its colonial rule on Korea and division of the nation. Mass media just read the government’s behaviors.

In contrast, President Moon Jae-in was excellent. In the 25-minute telephone talk with President Trump immediately after the Hanoi summit the ROK president straightly told his counterpart to expect a wise decision in order to end the last cold war remaining in the Korean Peninsula. President Trump replied, asking the ROK leader to play an active role together with Chairman Kim Jong Un.

At the same time a telephone conversation was made between President Trump and Premier Abe. It lasted ten minutes, which reveals a difference of capacity.

President Moon delivered a speech at the occasion of the 100^th Year of the March 1 Independence Movement, appreciating the realization of the second summit meeting and presenting a new system in the Korean Peninsula. This posture indicates us a possible third meeting of the USA and DPRK.

March 12, 2019