Whatever you might think about Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un's recent summit meeting in Singapore - and many commentators are distinctly skeptical that it actually represents any kind of a concrete step forward - at least it WAS a meeting, and at least some kind of dialogue occurred (as well as much back-holding and an awful lot of hand-shaking), although I have my suspicions that much of it consisted of Trump blustering at great length, and Kim interjecting the odd "mm-hmm" from time to time.
I couldn't help but smile, though, at an article I came across about a 1969 meeting between the US and North Korea. It was the 289th meeting of the Korean Military Armistice Commission (yes, 289! - you can see how productive those meetings were) Apparently, Major General James Kapp and Major General Ri Choon-Sun sat across the table from one another for eleven and a half hours, during which time neither Major General ate, drank or used the washroom. Most of this time was spent trading barbs and insults.
During the last four and half hours of this epic meeting, though, not a single word was uttered, and the two just glared at each other, arms folded, across the table, presumably to see who would laugh first. Eventually, at 10:35pm, the Korean just got up, walked out the door, and drove away. So, I guess you could say the Americans won that particular staring contest.
So, you see, things could be worse.
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