Fighting Covid-19: Trump turns his back on allies and reaches out to North Korea?

Letter of cooperation

The exchange of letters is a special diplomatic move and has been carried out quite often between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un since the two sides had their first meeting in Singapore in June 2018. The relationship between the two leaders has changed from confrontation to closeness, partly reflected through the letters sent back and forth on special occasions.

US President Donald Trump (right) meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sentosa Island in Singapore on June 12, 2018. Photo: AP

In his latest letter to North Korea, US President Donald Trump said he was impressed by the efforts of the North Korean leader to protect his people from the Corona virus. Mr. Trump also “expressed his intention to cooperate in fighting this disease with North Korea”. This is a surprising and rare offer of “cooperation in fighting Covid 19” that President Trump made. Mr. Trump’s recent decisions are considered to be “turning his back” on even close allies and partners.

Two weeks ago, Mr. Trump suddenly ordered a ban on all travel from Europe to the US without any consultation or prior notice - a move that was considered to "hurt" allies in the Old Continent, while countries in this region were being hit hardest by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. For many Europeans, this response from the US caused a feeling of disappointment. Not to mention, the US under President Donald Trump has been almost "silent" about the need for international coordination in the face of a pandemic that is devastating the world like Covid-19. The US is this year's chair of the Group of Seven (G7), but the person who proposed the nCoV summit via video was French President Emmanuel Macron. Mr. Trump agreed to that proposal, but the person responsible for organizing it was still France. While Europe urgently called for medical support to deal with the epidemic, the response signals did not come from the US but from China.

A notice asking people to "avoid crowds and wash their hands frequently" on the Manhattan Bridge ramp in Brooklyn (New York City - USA) on March 20, 2020. Photo: Reuters - Andrew Kelly

For decades, the United States has led international efforts to combat epidemics such as Ebola and HIV/AIDS. But with a president who pursues an “America First” perspective like Donald Trump, those efforts seem to have faded. According to some observers, the United States is now “turning its back” on the world in an effort to fight a common enemy. Peter Westmacott, a former British ambassador to the United States, commented in the New York Times that Trump’s recent performances almost coincide with people’s inherent views of him. “It’s a self-serving behavior, and at the same time, he refuses to take responsibility for his initial mistakes”…

Because of these realities, Mr. Trump's proposal to cooperate with North Korea in fighting the Covid-19 epidemic seems clearly a different move and of course will also reflect Washington's calculations.

Appease North Korea?

It is still too early to say whether these moves indicate a warming of US-North Korea relations after a period of cooling due to the lack of substantive results in nuclear negotiations. However, the US President’s unexpected proposal to North Korea could be a message that Mr. Trump still puts North Korea in his priority “target”. The letter sent to Pyongyang at a difficult time when the whole world is fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and the US-North Korea bilateral relationship is in a challenging phase shows that the US President wants to make efforts to maintain a good personal relationship with the North Korean leader. This is especially meaningful for Pyongyang amid many difficulties.

Pyongyang residents wear masks in public. Photo: AFP

Although North Korea has not reported any cases of Covid-19, the country has taken a series of drastic measures to prevent the virus from entering. In addition to closing its border and cutting off traffic with China, North Korea has also imposed a 30-day quarantine on foreigners or its citizens returning from China.

Thus, it is certain that the epidemic control measures will significantly affect North Korea's trade and tourism, and the budget for measures to prevent the spread of the virus domestically will cause negative reactions to the economy, which has been stagnant due to US and UN sanctions.

North Korea has conducted multiple missile tests and long-range artillery drills since the beginning of the month. Observers say this is a move to pressure the US and its allies to ease economic sanctions. In addition, while governments around the world, including US President Donald Trump, are focused on containing the spread of the Corona virus and seem to no longer care about North Korea, Pyongyang needs to do something to regain attention. Pyongyang's missile tests could signal that North Korea is still a name that the US needs to pay attention to.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects a military exercise in late February 2020. Photo: Reuters

In such a context, it seems that the US's "reaching out" action will help soothe and "strengthen confidence" in Pyongyang. In other words, this first step by US President Donald Trump will "hit the psychology" of North Korea, which is in a difficult period. The next steps will depend on the specific actions of each country, such as how the US will support North Korea, how receptive Pyongyang will be, and further, whether negotiations will resume or not... President Trump's goal is still to get North Korea to make concessions in abandoning its nuclear and missile programs in exchange for the US lifting sanctions. In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic making North Korea's economy even more difficult, US concessions to achieve sanctions relief goals may be in Washington's calculations.