Chan Young Bang

Opinion | Only Xi Jinping can help Kim Jong-un unlock a bright economic future for a denuclearised North Korea

Given the Chinese president’s personal history and China’s pivotal role in North Korea’s economy, Xi is well placed to convince Kim that economic reform is his best option. A US$300 billion fund, financed mostly by China, could get the ball rolling

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Chan Young Bang

Published: 3:00am, 10 May 2019Updated: 3:49am, 10 May 2019

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un finds himself at a pivotal fork in the road. After a complete failure in Hanoi, a mediocre summit in Vladivostok, and the issuance of a year-end ultimatum, 2019 has thus far proven that Pyongyang is running short on world leaders to turn to for relief from crippling sanctions.

With famine on the horizon, due to a 1.4 million-tonne shortage in grain supplies this year, brinkmanship diplomacy can take North Korea no further. It’s clear that neither US President Donald Trump nor Russian President Vladimir Putin can offer Kim a coherent, rational alternative to maintaining regime legitimacy and system stability without nuclear weapons.

A prosperous, denuclearised North Korea, integrated with the world economy and ensured of spectacular economic growth would benefit all stakeholder nations, including the US. Survival of the regime – preventing the collapse of the North Korean state and resultant regional catastrophe – is consistent with the security interests of all members of the six-party talks: North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia, the US and, especially, China.

Kim is now faced with a choice: enact system reform and open up the economy, following in China’s footsteps, or watch his country dissolve into economic chaos and social instability, thus bringing on his own demise.

At this juncture, only North Korea’s closest ally is capable of providing Kim with the key to embracing economic reform without nuclear weapons, ensuring a bright future for the region for generations to come.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is exceptionally equipped to lead and facilitate North Korea’s transition from a closed, centralised system to an open, market-oriented economy because, unlike other world leaders, he understands the unique situation in which Kim now finds himself.