NZ Herald editorial: The unpredictables - Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un, and the nuclear weapons summit

Can we trust what we are witnessing? Photo / AP

Editorial

It beggars belief that - possibly in a matter of mere weeks - United States President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un could be sitting down together to negotiate the terms of a denuclearisation deal for the east Asian state.

Yet these are strange times, indeed.

It has been revealed that there has already been a high-level meeting between Kim and CIA director Mike Pompeo, one that - remarkably - took place with little fanfare, twitter time or political point-scoring. There has been symbolic diplomatic manoeuvring between North and South Korea while the latter hosted the recent Winter Olympics. Kim is set to meet North Korean President Moon Jae-in for a rare summit, last month he met Chinese President Xi Jinping - with whom relations have been strained - and issued the invitation to meet Trump as he pledges to suspend long-range missile tests and shut his state's nuclear test site.

It is impossible to know whether the world is witnessing the start of meaningful engagement and a diplomatic "thaw'' in relations with the country the West continually refers to as a "rogue state'', a genuine commitment towards denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, or a cynical ploy to look the part of the peacemaker.

After all, the past year has been nerve-jangling to say the least, and while many in the West view Kim warily, equally as unpredictable is the new US President.

The two leaders have exchanged a barrage of provocative taunts, Trump calling Kim "rocket man'', threatening "'fire and fury'' and to "totally destroy North Korea", Kim vowing to "tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire" before the pair started comparing the size of their nuclear buttons.

The bluster and bravado has been a boon for satirists and cartoonists the world over, who have portrayed the two in the most unflattering ways - as babies throwing their (nuclear) toys of the cot, mad men with crazy hairdos to match - but unnerving for the "adults in the room'', and onlookers the world over.

So the sudden apparent U-turn is welcome, but unsettling. Can we trust what we are witnessing?

It will certainly not be easy to craft an agreement that allows both impetuous and narcissistic leaders to walk out with their heads held high. Indeed, Trump has already threatened a temper tantrum - the promise of walking out - if he deems the meeting a waste of time.

Yet, North Korea has made a powerful nuclear capability statement, and is crippled by sanctions. The US leader has not made strides on the domestic agenda he promised, has ruffled international feathers and turned his own administration into a laughing stock. A landmark agreement he could claim as his own would be a global PR win (even - in an irony not lost on most, as he simultaneously threatens to pull out of the Obama administration's Iran nuclear deal).

It could all so easily backfire if these two unpredictables push each other's buttons, though. The path ahead may be lined with good intentions, but it is also fraught with the potential for distrust, miscommunication, misunderstanding, wilful misinterpretation and the sort of militant misanthropy that makes the world a very small and dangerous place.

The summit - if it even happens - offers at once a hopeful, fascinating and terrifying prospect.