Do you think Kim Jong Un is playing Trump?

His nation is starving, he, as George Costanza would say, has "no hand".

Does it matter to him? He's a dictator after all. I do think of course he wants easing of sanctions, but from China and the South... from the U.S?

The basic problem with this line of thinking is that North Korea is publicly dismantling it's propaganda machine. That isn't really something you do if you want to remain dictator.

Besides, he and the folks who pull his strings have a lot to gain. With peace the lives of everyone in North Korea is going to improve suddenly and dramatically. If they manages to take credit for that boost, while placing the blame for the current state of things on previous administrations, his people are likely to view him/them as something akin to a saint.

I watched a documentary a few years ago on North Korea, and the nation is on the brink of revolution.

I've heard the same things said about Venezuela, Iran, Turkey... even China, yet here we are. Who knows though, anything can happen I guess.

Wow..the deny is strong in this one...if Kim Jong Un is playing Trump...then he's also playing South Korea & China...lol..that's a very bad move.

He’s attempting to play South Korea and the US against each other. So far it seems to be working.

Yes.
The North Korea strategy is working brilliantly. They've built up a nuclear arsenal and are now getting basically everything that they've wanted over the past 30 years without having to concede a single thing.

No concessions on basic human rights, economic policy, governmental oppression, terrorizing their own people, etc etc etc. Nothing.

North Korea's goals for the past 30 years have primarily been being treated as a legitimate government, maintaining their own security, lifting sanctions, and continuing on as a dictatorship. North Korea is about to get ALL of that without giving up a single thing overall.

The purpose of NK having nukes was for them to use it as leverage to get everything else that they wanted, and its working.

Iran, if nothing else, did at least elect a moderate government. Trump is busy spitting it back into their face but the situation in Iran did at least bear some fruit.

Trump is a scary God man who posts threats on Twitter that makes Kim shake in his boots to the point of making him make peace deals. It is known.

Yeah that's true, at least for now anyway. However if he tears up the Iran nuclear deal, then expect that to be replaced by a hardliner government. And good luck convincing North Korea to agree to their own nuclear deal after seeing the US signing up to one, and then reneging on it. Any assurances would be worthless then.

If anything, if Kim Jong Un is serious about making a deal, then he is doing it for self-preservation. He's not stupid, he saw what happened to Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi after they were removed from power.

no I think trump just lied to him and offered a deal we cant honor is all

I know I know, Trump lie? no way

Nukes seem to be the equalizer against the US. If a country has nukes, the US politicians and government suddenly aren't so keen on spreading democracy. Let's face it, if any of the middle eastern countries that we invaded had nukes and ICBM technology, there would be much more peaceful negotiation. If you want proof, just look at one fact...we have never directly attacked a nuclear power in our history. Even the Russians, who pretty much pulled a modern day Hitler move by annexing a country, were left alone (aside from economic sanctions). On the other hand, Iraq did the same thing in the 90s with kuwait, and we sent over all our freedom forces. The only difference was, no nukes.

The fact is, nukes seem to be the answer and NK won't ever give that up. The Iranians are probably working on getting nukes also.

I think Kim would be stupid to give up Nukes, I agree with you. That's the reason he's remained in power. Now that he gives up on them, what comes next for him? People are going to want change. He'll slowly lose power and I doubt his regime will last in his lifetime. OF course this is good, but i'm wondering what is his line of thinking at this point.

also when calculating what all this might mean people need to consider the fact that its EXTREEMLY unlikely that Trump to him.

so the question is what.

No, I don't think he wants a repeat of the Korean war where we firebombed about 6+ North Korean cities from existence. If North Korea attacked us, we would wipe them from the face of the Earth and I think it was a mix of fear and pressure from China.

Kim is meeting first with China, in a surprise move

Lol, I love the drama. Honestly, I think he's going to troll Trump.