Did Former President Carter Bring Peace to the Korean Peninsula?

Former President Carter has successfully engaged with North Korea in the past and could be accepted by leader Kim Jong-un as a peace envoy.

Former US President Jimmy Carter (93 years old) announced that he is ready to go to Pyongyang to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in an effort to prevent military clashes in Northeast Asia.

Former President Jimmy Carter visited Pyongyang in 1994. Photo: Financial Times

Former President Carter's plans were revealed by Park Han-shik, a professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia. Professor Park met with former President Carter at his residence in Plains, Georgia. On September 28, he told the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Daily that former President Carter wanted to play a role in peacemaking on the Korean Peninsula, as he did in 1994.

Professor Park added that former President Jimmy Carter wanted to meet directly with leader Kim Jong-un “to discuss a US-North Korea peace treaty and the complete denuclearization of North Korea.” The ultimate goal would be “the establishment of a lasting peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.”

Analysts say Pyongyang would welcome the possibility of talks because it would be a “propaganda coup” and serve to legitimize the regime. China and Russia would also be supportive, as they have both called for meaningful talks to end the “war of words” and vicious threats.

While there are many in Washington willing to explore the possibility of negotiations, will President Donald Trump accept former President Carter's offer?

In September 2017, a US State Department official visited Carter at his home to convey President Donald Trump's message that the former president (Carter) should not speak publicly about the worsening crisis in Northeast Asia, citing the reason for undermining the role of the current president.

Last week, former President Carter wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post about the situation on the Korean Peninsula, noting that it was “the gravest threat to world peace today.” “It is important that Pyongyang and Washington find some way to de-escalate tensions and reach a lasting peace agreement,” Carter wrote.

However, President Donald Trump's stance toward North Korea has become more confrontational. In a speech to the UN General Assembly in September, Trump said the US would "totally destroy" North Korea if it pressed ahead with its development of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

"A meeting between (former President) Carter and (their leader) Kim would not be like government-to-government talks, but the North (North Korea) would not mind, if it gives the North Korean leadership the legitimacy it desires," analyst James Brown, associate professor of international relations at Temple University Tokyo, told DW.

Former President Carter's record of reconciliation would have made him more palatable to the North Korean leadership when he visited Pyongyang in 1994, as US President Bill Clinton was planning to attack North Korea's nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.

Former President Carter traveled to Pyongyang in June 1994 and reached an agreement with Chairman Kim Il-sung to freeze the DPRK's nuclear program. Four months later, the United States and North Korea signed the Agreed Framework, under which Pyongyang would eventually dismantle its nuclear program.

In August 2010, he intervened again to help release Aijalon Gomes, an American citizen sentenced to eight years in prison by Pyongyang for illegally entering the DPRK.

"At that time, Mr. Carter went to Pyongyang at a better time than the current situation. Now, the US side says that those agreements were exploited by North Korea to buy more time to develop missiles. The US needs to take a tougher line. But that is not effective, when North Korea responds with missile launches and new nuclear tests. In my opinion, neither option is good, but dialogue is still better than other options."

Meanwhile, Professor Toshimitsu Shigemura of Waseda University in Tokyo said it was unlikely that former President Jimmy Carter would visit Pyongyang again.

According to Kienthuc.net.vn