Meeting with US President Trump

How has Kim Jong Un forged his own path for the Kim dynasty? How worried should we be about North Korea?

First and foremost, Kim is the first North Korea leader to step foot in South Korea since the end of the war. Also, Kim meeting with President Trump was huge on a global scale as many agrued that this legitimized Kim garnering him more power. I think this shows that he is forging his own path by showing some signs as wanting to open up North Korea for business. He is at least flirting with the idea and now that the North Korean economy is suffering we may see even more of this in addition to the ramped up threats. There seems to be this push and pull between following the old way of running the country and leading in a new era. Inviting Dennis Rodman to the county, stepping foot into South Korea, meetings with US leaders, summit with President Trump, and the impromptu meeting with Trump at the DMZ were opportunities for Kim to gain favor globally. On one hand it looks as though Kim wants to dabble in politics as a regular politician and on the other there is something holding him back.

I think we should be worried about North Korea because as the imposed sanctions continue to squeeze the economy, Kim Jong Un could become more and more deserpate which could lead to some frightening circumstances. As a nuclear power this is very much a concern for the west and contries within the region. The ties between China, Russia, and North Korea are and should be a concern because of the trade war with China and sanctions that have been imposed on Russia as well.  This is an incredibly volatile time, but I would argue that it so because the US is not doing business as usual anymore.