Readers React: It doesn’t matter if Kim Jong Un ‘wins’ — his meeting with Trump is our best shot at peace

To the editor: Does anything really change because President Trump’s acceptance of an invitation to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gave a “propaganda victory” to Pyongyang? (“Whatever comes next, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un can claim a win against Trump,” March 9)

The fact is that this meeting, if it ever takes place, represents a historic opportunity for face-to-face discussions to address a major world threat: North Korea’s nuclear weapons.

For decades, under Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama, the United States has been gamed by North Korea, as we have totally failed to stop the development of nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them. The bureaucratic protocols and diplomacy of the past have not worked.

Maybe it’s time to try the unorthodox, direct approach favored by Trump. Let’s give peace a chance.

Glynn Morris, Playa del Rey

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To the editor: Why does our government demonize a country that, during the Korean War, was utterly destroyed? Our Air Force went so far as to bomb dams, taking out the north’s electricity supplies and ruining rice crops.

The North Koreans have very good reason to want a deterrent to protect themselves from the United States, which has invaded, intervened and destroyed countries that could not adequately defend themselves. Consider Libya, a country that gave up its nuclear program only to be bombed and its government overthrown with the help of our government.

Joseph Tillotson, Redondo Beach

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To the editor: Kim truly is delusional if he thinks meeting with Trump will bring him recognition as a world power.

Some countries with similar leadership may appear to give him what he wants, but the rest of the world will continue to view him as an unstable dictator of a small impoverished country who has no regard for human life.

Arline George, Reseda

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To the editor: Times reporter Barbara Demick believes that since no other sitting United States president has had the intestinal fortitude to attempt an ice-breaking communication with a particular adversary, it is a “victory” for the other leader.

Is not any attempt to remove the current threat posed by a major war a good action, even though it involves Trump? The meeting between Kim and our president may never take place, but even the possibility of an opening of communications to end the Korean War deserves to be celebrated.

I think it is time for all of us to put aside the unimportant issues of personal errors and human foibles and instead focus on the big picture.

Bob Curran, Hollywood

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To the editor: This one-upmanship between Kim and Trump reminds me of mock world leaders Charlie Chaplin (as Hitler) and Jack Oakie (as Mussolini) battling each other by pumping their barber chairs higher in the 1940 film “The Great Dictator.”

Let’s hope the Trump-Kim faceoff turns out to be a comedy as well.

Terry De Wolfe, Monterey Park

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