North Korea doesn’t have enough food, it lacks Facebook and Beyoncé, and its diplomats have to ration their use of computers in the Foreign Ministry because of electricity shortages.

But North Korea excels at choreography and theater, and its officials are well educated, very savvy, and agile with a pirouette. So we have peace breaking out on the Korean Peninsula — and President Trump gets some credit for that .As Kim Jong-un stepped into South Korea on Friday — the first North Korean leader to do so — let’s acknowledge that he has played a weak hand exceptionally well. Kim is now aiming to squirm out of sanctions, build up his economy and retain his nuclear arsenal, all while remaining a global focus of attention. It’s a remarkable performance.
South Korean conservative politicians criticized the joint statement issued by the leaders of the Koreas after their summit at a truce village, saying Seoul let Pyongyang off the hook by failing to secure a clear commitment to discarding its nuclear weapons.Liberty Korea Party Chairman Hong Joon-pyo took to Facebook on Friday to denounce the summit as a "show camouflaged as peace" and said it was as if Moon "wrote down the words Kim called out."

Party spokeswoman Jun Hee-kyung criticized Moon for agreeing to a statement calling for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula instead of the North's nuclear disarmament. President Trump’s tightening of sanctions and his belligerent rhetoric genuinely did change the equation. All this was meant to intimidate Kim, but it mostly alarmed President Moon Jae-in of South Korea and galvanized him to undertake successful Olympic diplomacy that laid the groundwork for the North-South summit meeting.