There are some mediocre people who get a lot of things done because they’re lucky… and there are great people who get little done because they’re unlucky. Jimmy Carter is a great man. He’s also an unlucky man. In 1994, he almost got something done that no one else before or since had succeeded in — bringing North and South Korea together.
Carter met with and got along fabulously with North-Korean dictator Kim Il-Song, back in 1994. The two men met for an extended period of time, and Carter and Kim had some very long, serious talks. The former US President was able to make Kim see reason, in a way no one else ever could… nuclear weapons were a thing of the past, he argued, and his country needed to move forward. Things never looked brighter in the Korean peninsula.[1]
By the end of June 1994, Kim agreed to halt the North Korean nuclear program. Peace was within reach. Then on July 1994, before the treaty was ratified, Kim collapsed of a massive heart attack… Jimmy Carter was a man who could move mountains if given a chance. But bad luck was his constant companion. Still a great diplomat — no American has gotten as close to peace between the two Korea’s as him.
Footnotes
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