The beginning of US-North Korean talks reflects well on Ivanka Trump

Donald Trump declared during his presidential election campaign that he would be quite happy to sit down with Kim Jong-un and “have a hamburger with him” – he asked: “What the hell is wrong with speaking?

“And you know what? It’s called opening a dialogue.”

Trump was derided for his supposed naivety on international affairs across the American political spectrum, while North Korea’s state media praised him as “a very wise politician”. Since then the US President and Kim Jong-un have been trading public insults and boasts of the “my nuclear button is bigger than your button” variety.

There is now, however, an apparent offer of talks from Pyongyang’s officials at the Winter Olympics with America.

But this does not mean that a new sun of peace and amity is rising in the East. There is no indication at present that Pyongyang is prepared to negotiate about its nuclear and missile arsenal.

Rather, it is a general expression of hope on improving relations in tandem between North and South Korea, and Pyongyang and Washington.

Furthermore, the development at the weekend came just hours after the North furiously denounced fresh sanctions announced against it by Washington as an “act of war”, attempted sabotage just as the two parts of the Peninsula were engaged in a process of reconciliation.

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in, who is deeply worried that Trump may decide to fight the North to the last South Korean standing, was quick to press the White House to seize the moment.

“President Moon pointed out the urgency to hold dialogue between North Korea and the US in order to fundamentally resolve the issues on the Korean Peninsula and to improve inter-Korean relations,” said a statement from the Seoul’s Presidential residence, the Blue House.

The US and its allies in the region have been concerned that President Moon’s attempts at reconciliation with his northern counterpart may begin to look like appeasement and further embolden Pyongyang.

There was worry in Washington and Tokyo over President Moon’s invitation to the North to attend the games in Pyeongchang and start inter-Korea talks, amid claims that Kim Jong-un was trying to drive a wedge between the South and the US and Japan.

President Moon has managed to diffuse a growing row by quickly accepting Trump’s demand that he should be credited for making the talks happen by his tough stance. Washington, however, continued to be combative.

Vice-President Mike Pence was accompanied on his trip to Seoul for the games by Fred Warmbier, whose son Otto was jailed in the North and died after his return to America – from injuries he had received in custody, it was claimed. Warmbier and his wife Cindy were guests of Trump at last week’s State of the Union address.

An aide to Pence said: “The Vice President will remind the world that everything the North Koreans do at the Olympics is a charade to cover up the fact that they are the most tyrannical and oppressive regime on the planet.

“At every opportunity, the VP will point out the reality of the oppression in North Korea by a regime that has enslaved its people. We will not allow North Korea’s propaganda to hijack the messaging of the Olympics.”

It now transpires, however, that confidential plans had been made by Pence to meet the North Korean leader’s sister Kim Yo-jong, who was attending the Olympics, after the opening ceremony. But the meeting was cancelled, apparently by the North Koreans, at the last minute.

There has been speculation that there may have been an informal meeting between Allison Hooker, a Korea specialist from the National Security Council who accompanied Ivanka Trump for the closing ceremony, and Kim Yong Chol, North Korea’s former military intelligence chief. The two had met before in 2014, when Hooker went to Pyongyang to help obtain the release of two detained Americans.

There is a long way to go before one can talk of a solution. There is deep scepticism about Kim Jong-un’s real intentions. Premier Shnizo Abe of Japan, whose country faces a direct missile threat from North Korea, warned during the Games – after speaking to Trump – that there would be “no meaningful dialogue” unless Pyongyang agreed on “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation”. The White House said: “We will see if Pyongyang’s message today, that it is willing to hold talks, represents the first steps along the path to denuclearisation.”

But the South Koreans remain publicly hopeful of a breakthrough. Ivanka Trump can get a bit of reflected glory if it was those accompanying her to the Games started the ball rolling.

It could stand her in good stead in the future: after all, Donald Trump’s daughter is said to have Presidential aspirations of her own. And the US President may find himself one day engaging in “hamburger diplomacy” with the “Little Rocket Man” from Pyongyang.