Following a series of meetings, first between the leadership of North Korea and South Korea, and then between North Korea and President Trump, tensions at least appear to be taming for the time being.
After the historic summit between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump, North Korea began removing anti-American propaganda present in the country. A series of murals, banners, and posters displayed throughout Pyongyang have long depicted the U.S. as a brutal aggressor bent on destroying North Korea. Since North Korea is isolated from the rest of the world, government propaganda is the only information that the citizens have in forming their opinions about the rest of the world. (RELATED: MSNBC Analyst Just Compared Trump’s North Korea Diplomacy to Ronald Reagan).
Those posters have since been removed and replaced with propaganda supporting a theme of U.S.-Korean friendship.
Additionally, North Korea is canceling an annual anti-American military parade.
According to American Military News: “In a sign of improving relations with the United States, North Korea has decided to cancel an annual ‘anti-U.S. imperialism’ rally this year. The rally served as one of North Korea’s most symbolic and political events, held annually on July 27 in remembrance of the start of the Korean War. North Korea historically celebrated the day as a national holiday called ‘Victory in the Fatherland Liberation War.’ The rally included events focused on the Korean War, complete with nationalist fervor and anti-U.S. postage stamps. Last year’s event included a reported 100,000 attendees in Kim Il Sung Square.”
North Korea plans to skip one of the most symbolic and politically charged events of its calendar: the annual "anti-U.S. imperialism" rally marking the start of the Korean War https://t.co/DS6R4Q9p2y pic.twitter.com/cmF4CoNEMD
— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) June 25, 2018
This is a notable difference between the behavior of Iran, as Obama negotiated the Iran nuclear deal. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei routinely lead crowds to chant “Death to America” in unison while his nation was still in talks with America over the deal. It looked so horrible from a PR perspective that during negotiations, John Kerry asked Iran to stop leading such chants at political rallies. Clearly, they didn’t listen.
What a difference one leader can make.
Given North Korea’s history, the United States needs to tread carefully, but such developments suggest that the isolated regime may finally be open to making some substantive changes.
