Following a year of criticisms and threats between the US President, Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s President, their agreement to meet may come as a surprise. Kim extended an invitation to Trump who quickly agreed to the meet scheduled to happen before May. White House officials are reported to be busy with the schematics of the summit but no detail about the meet has been released.
North Korea had been insistent in driving its nuclear program and went ahead to test a number of powerful nuclear weapons. North Korea tested three of its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles attributed with the capability of reaching US’s mainland. America has since calibrated North Korea as its number one security threat.
As speculation runs high, concerned and interested parties are asking questions like if the summit will yield a breakthrough, failure or lead to another long and painstaking process geared towards removing North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.
Why Trump Agreed to Meet with Kim Jong Un
Trump is considered to be having a challenge with his foreign policy and is also set to go through his first midterm election in November. As envisioned by most analysts, the two facts put Trump in a position hungry for a win in regards to his foreign policy.
On the other hand, North Korea is ridden with sanctions to curtail it from continuing with its nuclear program and pressure the country into stopping its nuclear quest. The situation could be choking North Korea leading to Kim’s decision to extend his invitation to the US president. Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at Sejong Institute in South Korea, stated that both leaders are looking for big wins. He added that the May meeting comes after Kim meets his southern counterpart, President Moon Jae-in.
America may be the main country to meet but North Korea could be planning to extend summit invitations to its close neighbors comprised of Japan, China, and Russia. Its objective will then be breaking its isolation with the listed countries.
Where to Meet
Details about the location of the summit have not yet been decided and for the process to begin, there has to be an exchange of high-level delegations tasked with setting up logistics for the May summit. Indeed the US would prefer meeting in Washington but Kim may not have any diplomatic experience to pull off Washington.
Likewise, Kim would prefer to meet Trump in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital. Experts assert that Trump may consider going to Pyongyang as it mimics a power move. He will be the first US incumbent president to visit North Korea, a move that will magnify his strong-willed character of leadership he tries to portray.
The two may also decide to meet in a third neutral country. The speculation goes on and on.
