Arne O. Holm says A Neighborship from Hell
Perlevenner: Nord-Koras diktator Kim Jong un og forhenværende president av USA, Donald Trump. (Arktivfoto: Det hvite hus)
Commentary: We do not choose our neighbors. As a nation, we are at the mercy of our geographical location, also when we are pressured by two Arctic "great powers" gone astray.
For years, two Arctic presidents have shaken hands and praised Kim Jong-un, North Korea's brutal dictator.
The other Arctic states are to fight for peace and democracy in the High North while squeezed between them.
On the 30th of June 2019, Donald Trump met Kim Jong-un for the third time. The meeting occurred in Panmunjom, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. A photo from the meeting shows an American president, with his usual red tie and comb over, giving Kim Jong-un a solid handshake while seemingly patting the brutal dictator on the butt with his other hand.
Love letters
They had previously met in both Singapore and Vietnam, in addition to a lengthy exchange of letters. The letters, which apparently are among the illegal documents Trump took from the White House, are characterized as "love letters" by the American press. Even Trump said he and Jong-un "fell in love" after their first meeting.
There is little indication that the relationship between the two has cooled down.
While we are to fight for peace and democracy.
Earlier this year, the North Korean dictator was absurdly enough accepted as one of ten members of the UN's World Health Organisation (WHO). Donald Trump was one of the first, and one of the very few, heads of state to congratulate Jong-un.
The fact that he spelled his name wrong, Jung instead of Jong, on his social platform, Truth Social, likely did not put a damper on the celebrations of the almost hermetically sealed North Korea.
Nevertheless, an insignificant error by a presidential candidate currently being led between American courtrooms like a furious leashed terrier.
Could continue the war
Another Arctic president and one of Donald Trump's role models met the North Korean despot the other day.
For 40 seconds, the Russian president shook hands with Kim Jong-un in the far east of Russia at a launch base for satellites and spacecraft. The strictly controlled videos released from the meeting bear many similarities with the meeting with Trump.
While most heads of state fear a North Korea with nuclear weapons, Putin and Jong-un praise each other's appetite for war and human lives.
With an appetite for war and human lives.
We know little about which agreements Putin and Jong-un will sign. We know that Putin is hunting for Russian ammunition stored in North Korea. That would enable Russia to continue the war against Ukraine.
We know that North Korea is searching for technology that can equip the country's submarines with nuclear weapons.
In that case, we know it could create hell on earth.
We do not know whether Donald Trump will be elected president of the US in November 2024. But anything could happen with a weak Joe Biden, who will be 85 years old at the end of the next presidential term and under investigation himself.
Donald Trump, too.
With hellish neighbors like that, little Norway, chair of the Arctic Council, is supposed to try to promote old-fashioned ideals like peace and democracy in the High North.
