U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met in Hanoi, Vietnam for a one-on-one meeting before heading to a bilateral dinner. The U.S. hopes for North Korean denuclearization and Kim aims for an easing of sanctions.
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday met face-to-face for the first time since their historic summit last year. This time around, the heads of the two nuclear-armed nations are squaring off in Vietnam for two days of talks that are set to focus on much of the same issues they debated last June in Singapore. Trump is pushing North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons as he dangles the prospect of an economic boost to the hermit nation.
That was how Trump and Kim closed their summit in Singapore last June. The leaders held a signing ceremony for a declaration that said both sides would commit to establishing better relations and that North Korea"commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." Last year's meeting marked the first in-person meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean head of state.
Pyongyang has said in the past that it may denuclearize only if certain conditions were fulfilled. Those include the U.S. withdrawing troops from South Korea as well as ending the U.S. regional nuclear umbrella, a security arrangement in which Washington promises in-kind retaliation on behalf of close allies if they are attacked with nuclear weapons. American and North Korean sides still appear far apart on the idea of North Korea getting rid of its nuclear weapons.
Trump, for his part, has appeared to downplay the goals for this week's summit. Whereas last year he claimed the North Korean regime would begin removing its nuclear capabilities "very, very quickly," he said last week that he was in no hurry. "Well, I'd just like to see, ultimately, denuclearization of North Korea. I think we will see that ultimately. I have no pressing time schedule," he said from the Oval Office last Tuesday.
As for North Korea's goals, analysts said the country is probably willing to remove some capabilities it no longer needs and may agree not to increase the size of its arsenal. But Kim won't give up his nuclear weapons, they said. Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, predicted during a discussion in Washington last week that Kim's approach will be to"actually not really giving up anything.
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