Opinion | Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping take centre stage in diplomatic drama on the Korean peninsula

Diplomacy is a drama where all the actors have parts to play. Lately, all of a sudden, we have seen all of today’s major actors in global diplomacy scrambling to move to centre stage in a flurry of dramatic manoeuvres.

Nothing has been more dramatic than North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s hasty visit to China and his face-to-face encounter with Chinese President Xi Jinping, following the surprise announcement that he would take part in summits with South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in and US President Donald Trump.

Just a few weeks ago, the world was overwhelmed with fears of a potential nuclear war, as Kim and Trump traded threats, each claiming the availability of a “nuclear button” at their desks. Now summit diplomacy has replaced all the combative warmongering rhetoric. 

Virtually the whole world, including Washington and Beijing, has agreed on the denuclearisation of the peninsula. Thus Kim’s stunning shift in stance has played a key role in the recent dramatic change in global diplomacy. This is in sharp contrast to 2017, when the young North Korean leader oversaw a host of nuclear and missile tests eliciting the fury of the international community.