WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) – As U.S. President, Donald Trump, left for Hanoi for his second meeting with Kim Jong Un, the top leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), U.S. experts said, substantial results may come out of the meeting.
Noting that the Trump administration deserves credit for pursuing diplomacy with the DPRK, the experts said, the high-profile meeting between Trump and Kim is likely to move beyond vague promises and create substantial progress towards the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
Toby Dalton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said, the previous U.S. coercive measures are insufficient to promote the denuclearisation process, and Trump therefore should be lauded for taking risks to meet with Kim and test Pyongyang’s willingness in this regard.
“Conversation is, of course, far better than conflict,” Mark Fitzpatrick, an associate fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies-Americas, said.
“Also to the good is the fact that serious working-level talks preceded the summit,” he noted, explaining that, Stephen Biegun, U.S. special representative for DPRK affairs, has been pushing for concrete deliverable that may go well beyond the vague commitments of the Singapore summit.
As U.S. officials were actively holding negotiations with their DPRK counterparts, at the working level and seeking “to move in big bites,” Trump’s recent remarks, boasting of his achievements and lowering expectations of the meeting have raised concerns among U.S. experts.
Trump said last week that he was “in no particular rush,” given that sanctions against the DPRK remain in effect and Pyongyang has refrained from nuclear or missile testing.
However, Georgetown University Professor, Victor Cha, said that there was a clear pattern for Pyongyang to suspend tests when Washington was sitting at the table with it, regardless of who was the U.S. president.
Kim Duyeon, an adjunct senior fellow at the Centre for a New American Security, wrote that, the priority for Trump and Kim in their Hanoi meeting is to reach agreement on what “denuclearisation” and “peace” mean.
Duyeon predicted that the Hanoi meeting could likely result in a preliminary deal, which includes initial measures on the part of the DPRK to deal with its Yongbyon nuclear complex, fissile material production, and other nuclear or missile facilities, in exchange for corresponding U.S. measures, like improving bilateral relations and creating conditions for ultimate peace on the peninsula.
Patrick Cronin, an Asia-Pacific security expert at the Hudson Institute, said, other incentives Washington could provide include supporting the inter-Korean economic projects and establishing an escrow fund with access pegged to a future crucial point in the denuclearisation process.– NNN-AGENCIES
