Everyone is just looking at this on a surface level.

Kim wouldn't be doing this unless he feared a shifting political climate in China and needed to realign his country to ensure survival.

Look out for Chinese expansionism to kick into high gear soon.

This post was edited by inkanddagger on Mar 9 2018 02:45pm

then it's probably russia now ...

why? what does it cost him?

No

Don't worry, history doesn't repeat itself and power doesn't corrupt..



ow shit !

^^

lmk who got its elections raped by putin then now is worried about sarmat rs-28
sit down kid, usa is not the alpha, but an alpha.

His country relies on China for trade and protection. If China pulls back, Kim has to go elsewhere. If China has decided e.g. its 10 year plan includes retaking Taiwan and expanding into the Korean peninsula, something Kim would know but nobody else would know yet, then it would make sense for him to shift alliances to pull the United States in as hedge against Chinese encroachment. What better way to do that than leeching on the alliance the US has with SK?

This post was edited by inkanddagger on Mar 9 2018 03:12pm

I see what you mean, and its possible. but NK doesnt strictly rely on china for much if any protection. China has more of a vested interest in NK not falling than NK has an interest in china. NK mocks china regularly.

All good points. There is also the issue of Russia trying their best to contain China. Perhaps Vova has been working behind the scenes on some indecipherable plan.

But the easiest way to look at it is that DPRK is seen increasingly as a liability rather than an asset to China. Look at what happened to the economies of Hunchun and Dandong after the implementation of new sanctions against North Korea last year. Faced with a shrinking pool of allies, Kim has to do something to protect his national interests, and Donald Trump is stupid enough to go along with it. Not that the results are stupid. The result of this is actually pretty positive, on the whole. If the man bumbles into a victory here I'll be pretty happy.

is dennis rodman going to be in on this photo op though?
i mean that's all this is going to be, right
don't you typically have at least a tiny bit of groundwork laid before you show up for your big put-away-your-nukes-please summit?
you don't just show up and YOLO your way through an issue like this