The Photo with Bill

In the official photo, Bill Clinton appears to the side of Kim Jong-Il, the leader of North Korea. He isn’t smiling. He probably doesn’t feel like it. He knows that public opinion will not forgive him. Thus, he is solemn, almost glacial. It doesn’t matter, though. This photo is a trophy for the dictator. He will have it framed.

Imagine it! This nutty leader of a rogue state wanted the former American president to go to North Korea just to claim the two American journalists who were imprisoned there. So he rushed over there, with the approval of the White House.

He certainly rushed over there, but what happened? What is the problem? It is wrong to pretend that the Obama administration has rewarded the misconduct of North Korea concerning this particular mission.

Kim Jong-Il wrestled up a meeting with Bill Clinton but accomplished nothing in the end. Look past appearances! Don’t confuse the incidental with the essential.

The essential is that the provocative behaviors of Pyongyang on the nuclear front have been punished with increasing regularity by the international community.

The essential is that the regime restarted discussions regarding nuclear disarmament with the United States, China, Russia, South Korea and Japan. In other words, Kim Jong-Il did not gain any bargaining power with the United States. He cherishes this hope in order to split up his meeting.

Furthermore, nothing is more normal than informal negotiations continuing between Washington and Pyongyang. It would be naïve to believe that there never has been and never will be an agreement between Pyongyang and the others. These informal, bilateral negotiations must go on.

However, all formal discussion must always occur with a group. Any eventual denuclearization agreement will have to be negotiated in the same manner.

Only if that red line had been crossed could we say that that punk Kim Jong-Il had been rewarded. Yet, there still exists less risk than if that border had been crossed today or yesterday.

The release of two Americans helps Washington more than Pyongyang. If they remained prisoners on North Korean soil, North Korea would have used them to put pressure on the United States. This will not be the case.

The photo taken from the meeting between the former American president and the North Korean dictator is only a trophy in Kim Jong-Il’s mind and in the minds of Republicans who believe the Obama administration simply laid down in front of Kim Jong-Il and his requests.