President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un participate in a signing ceremony during a meeting on Sentosa Island, Tuesday, June 12, 2018, in Singapore.

President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un participate in a signing ceremony during a meeting on Sentosa Island, Tuesday, June 12, 2018, in Singapore. AP Photo/Evan Vucci

A Summit Short on Details, Yet Better Than War

The good news is that the Trump administration already has plans to continue the talks.

Given where we were a few months ago, and the erratic nature of the men involved, the Singapore summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un was a win for us all. They managed to avoid war, at least for now, and move the diplomatic process forward. Was it short on details? Yes. Was it a useful first step? Yes, indeed.

Both leaders, impulsive and bombastic, arrived in Singapore largely isolated. Trump came fresh from dissing his colleagues at the Group of Seven meeting in Canada. Kim arrived on an airplane owned by China and built in the United States because his planes are less comfortable and less reliable.

The leaders also arrived with the summit’s major issues unresolved. One day before they met, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters on Monday, “There are only two people that can make decisions of this magnitude, and those two people are going to be sitting in a room together.” Trump more or less declared that he was winging it, but promised that he would know “within the first minute” whether Kim was serious about giving up his nuclear weapons.

Could Trump and Kim go from “Rocket Man” and the “Dotard,” from “fire and fury” and my nuclear button “is a much bigger and powerful one,” to partners in peace within a matter of months? For now, it seems so.

We will not know for month or years if this process will result in the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. This is the start of a process, not the end. As President Trump said at a post-summit press conference, “If you don’t get the ball over the goal line, it doesn’t mean enough.”

In the 397-word agreement he signed with Kim — a “very, very comprehensive document,” the U.S. president called it — Trump committed to provide undefined security guarantees to the DPRK, and Kim reaffirmed his “firm and unwavering” commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. The agreement consisted of four main points:

  • The United States and the DPRK commit to establish new US-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.
  • The United States and the DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.
  • Reaffirming the April 27, 2018, Panmunjom Declaration, the DPRK commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
  • The United States and the DPRK commit to recovering POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of those already identified.

This agreement raises more questions than it answers. There are no timelines; Trump said post-summit that denuclearization “takes a long time.” He also said that U.S. economic sanctions would not be lifted until significant progress had been made on nuclear disarmament.

Asked what the military implications would be if the North did not keep its commitments, Trump replied, “I don’t want to be threatening.” He noted that Seoul has 28 million people, is right next to the border with the North, and that war could cost the lives of 20 million to 30 million people.

“Today is the beginning of an arduous process. Our eyes are wide open. But peace is always worth the effort,” he said.

At his news conference, Trump said the United States would stop “the war games,” or U.S.-South Korea military exercises, adding that they were expensive and “very provocative.” Trump will likely get criticized for taking this step without a firm commitment from the North in exchange. Yet Pyongyang has already suspended its nuclear and missile tests, and closed its nuclear test site. Moreover, the Clinton administration suspended the military exercises in the early 1990s as a way to encourage progress toward the 1994 agreement to halt the North’s plutonium production. It worked. 

The good news is that the Trump administration already has plans to continue the talks. President Trump said Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton will meet with North Korean officials next week to start fleshing out the thin summit communique.

The president will no doubt come home to criticism that he did not get the “complete, verified, irreversible denuclearization” that he and his staff promised before the summit. Nor did John Bolton get an invitation to gather up the North’s nukes by the end of the year. But we did get the continuation of a diplomatic process, which is ultimately the only way this crisis will be solved.

Chairman Kim and President Trump began an important, essential process today. Worth a Nobel Peace Prize? Not yet. But we should all do what we can to make sure that process succeeds. As the latter said after the summit, “Yesterday’s conflict does not have to be tomorrow’s war.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.