U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Steven Biegun has had a very busy few weeks since the January 18 announcement that Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un would hold a second summit by the end of February. Biegun’s speech described how we reached this unique diplomatic moment with North Korea, and provided both markers and sweeteners in his public remarks. North Korea has shown welcome self-restraint on nuclear and missile testing, but U.S.-North Korea summitry alone has not yet succeeded in reducing the risks posed by North Korea’s existing nuclear and missile capabilities. The establishment of such a process is the minimum that many analysts expected to emerge from the Singapore summit, and the process has now become the essential deliverable for the second Trump-Kim summit to be regarded as a success. The course of these conversations will likely have a direct impact on the second Trump-Kim summit, and the question of whether the two sides can nudge U.S. and North Korean trajectories into closer alignment.

Source: Forbes February 04, 2019 02:50 UTC