Negotiating with Kim Jong Un means talking to a man who believes he's a god
As President Trump gears up for his on-again June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, diplomats who have dealt with Pyongyang before say Trump and his team should be prepared for a strange and frustrating experience.
"There is a weirdness," said former Defense Secretary William Perry, who served in the Clinton administration and has negotiated with North Korea several times. "The weirdest is they sincerely believe that the Kim family are gods. There is a reverence for their leaders that is hard to understand. It hangs over everything."
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Cultural miscommunication is also a real risk. Former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill described using the phrase "early harvest items" to describe "common steps to build mutual trust quickly," but his North Korean conversation partners took it literally to mean harvesting crops early to avoid famine.
Read the full Politico analysis here.
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