Korea and nukes

On April 24, President Trump said North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un "has really been very open and I think very honorable based on what we are seeing." Perhaps I have not understood the definition of honorable as stated on vocabulary.com: "The word honorable has to do with people and actions that are honest, fair, and worthy of respect. An honorable person is someone who believes in truth and doing the right thing." Or the definition in the Merriam Webster Dictionary: "Deserving of respect or high regard."

The questions I have include: Is it honorable to kill your half-brother who is moving through an airport with a nerve agent? Is it honorable to repeatedly sign arms control treaties and then ignore them? Is it honorable to repeatedly threaten other nations with nuclear tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles? Is it honorable to deny your populace basic human rights?

It is good communication is opening between North Korea and the rest of the world. Hopefully, with time, the communication will lead to better relations with this dishonorable regime and better treatment for its people. Until then we should not trust North Korea to honor agreements they have made. We have already been given instructions on how to deal with North Korea. President Ronald Reagan gave those instructions when he quoted the old Russian proverb "Trust, but verify" regarding nuclear negotiating.

I admit I am a cynic, but I would be very happy to see negotiations succeed and to see nuclear weapons removed from Korea. The first issue is to come to an agreement as to what denuclearization means to all nations involved in talks. Without that agreement we cannot have a common goal. Still, we can hope and understand this could be a long process.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He lives in Chaffee, Missouri.