APD | Foreign experts optimistic about DPRK-USA summit in Vietnam

By APD writer Alice

Hanoi, February 27 (APD) – Foreign experts have voiced their optimism about the outcomes of the second summit between US President Donald Trump and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong-un, slated for February 27-28 in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi.

Director of the Asian Strategy Centre at the Institute of Economy of the Russian Academy of Science Georgy Toloraya expressed his hope that a breakthrough agreement may be reached during the event.

He said a joint statement has been drafted and talks on this issue will take place just ahead of the summit. The US has disclosed a possibility of a statement declaring the end of the Korean War. 

In addition, the US previously asked for verifiable denuclearisation measures, but there are signs that the measures could be launched step-by-step.

The US has also showed readiness in discussion for the establishment of liaison agencies, which was raised more than 20 years ago under US President Bill Clinton. If the discussion is a success, it will be the first direct communication channel between the two nations.

The DPRK-USA Hanoi Summit Vietnam looks likely to produce outcomes of a certain level, predicted Prof. Yoshiki Mine, President of Japan’s Institute for Peaceful Diplomacy.

The East Asian diplomacy expert said that the DPRK and the US have widely different viewpoints and approaches heading into the meeting.

The US has asked for verifiable denuclearisation measures, while the DPRK wants multi-step solutions and does not agree with such immediate measures, he noted, holding that this is a major distinction.

Therefore, the second meeting between the DPRK and US leaders will either reach an agreement on step-to-step solutions or come to a deal on comprehensive and verifiable denuclearisation, said Prof. Yoshiki Mine.

Regarding the possibility that the US will remove sanctions on the DPRK, the Japanese expert held that there is no chance of the removal happening.

He said that to the US, sanction measures are necessary and important to complete the target of realising the denuclearisation process. Therefore, Washington will not easily loosen the measures, stated he.

Meanwhile, Dr. Alon Levkowitz, lecturer and coordinator of the Asian Studies Programme at Bar-Ilan University, Israel, described the first summit between the two sides in Singapore as significant for the second event as they reached a consensus on several issues, like the DPRK halting nuclear tests on the Korean Peninsula and the US pausing joint military exercises with the Republic of Korea.

The second meeting is on the right track; however, it needs specific outcomes, he underlined, explaining that Pyongyang should show Washington it is crucial to continue negotiations to bring peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Levkowitz cast doubts on the breakthroughs of the outcomes if both sides focus only on what they want. The US expects the DPRK to slow down its nuclear weapon programme while the latter wants the American nation to remove economic sanctions.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)