Strife between Seoul and Tokyo makes Kim Jong Un’s DMZ victory even more valuable

Excerpt

Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un surprised the world last week with a third, brief, yet historic meeting in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea. North Korean state media heralded the Trump-Kim rendezvous as the “meeting of the century,” as it revives the seemingly defunct nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang. While that alone would be a strategic victory for Kim, he has even more reason to celebrate because growing animosity between South Korea and Japan has divided the U.S.-led coalition in Northeast Asia.

Mathew Ha is a research associate focused on North Korea at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, where he also contributes to FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP). Follow him on Twitter@MatJunsuk. FDD is a Washington-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy. Follow FDD on Twitter@FDD and @FDD_CMPP.