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Post-Singapore summit: Pyongyang's nuclear agenda
Many view the Singapore Summit agreement as normative, lacking both concrete targets and a clear time frame.
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US President Donald Trump (right) walks out with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un (left) after taking part in a signing ceremony at the end of their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12. (POOL/AFP/Anthony Wallace)
T
he opening ceremony of the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta on Aug. 18 saw an extraordinary moment of hope for the international community. On the podium of the Gelora Bung Karno main stadium, South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon and North Korean Deputy Prime Minister Ri Ryong Nam stood side by side and waved their arms in unison to cheer on athletes from both Koreas at the spectacular celebration.
This rare moment was just one in a series of diplomatic events. Before the joint appearance in Jakarta, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had held a historic meeting in Panmunjom, on the border of their two countries, on April 27. Following that meeting, Kim met United States President Donald Trump in Singapore on June 12.
Their summit resulted in agreement on four points: to build relations between the two countries based on peace and prosperity; to establish a stable regime on the Korean Peninsula; to make efforts at comprehensive denuclearization; and to return the remains of US soldiers who had perished in the Korean War.
Many view the Singapore Summit agreement as normative, lacking both concrete targets and a clear time frame. We can, however, examine the agreement’s progress from technical politics, political diplomacy and geopolitics.
