When Trump Met Kim: What Happened Next?
The Trump-Kim meet was a historic one as Trump happened to be the first sitting president of US, who shook a hand with a North Korean leader. Trump further announced a political rally between the US and North Korea. However, though the meet helps a number of possibilities, the answer to whether Trump had successfully made North Korea open up its arms is no.
About Nuclear Threat:
After the summit, Trump had announced that North Korea no longer posed a threat of nuclear weapons. Trump further announced that North Korea seemed to be fine and there was no hurry in pushing for a deal that would make the regime get rid of their nuclear weapons.
However, one must remember here that Trump was the one who had decided to end the era of ‘strategic patience’ with North Korea regarding the nuclear weapon issue as North Korea has a stock of nuclear weapons that are quite capable of threatening the US. Trump’s plan was to put North Korea under ‘maximum pressure’ and use strict financial sanctions that will isolate the regime.
Though there is a belief that Trump’s strict behavior with North Korea had made this summit happen, it must be kept in mind that Kim came to this summit while belonging to a place of strength. So it can be perceived that having the hold of nuclear weapons has given North Korea a place of strength while meeting the president of US. Moreover, though Trump keeps boasting about the summit, Washington and Pyongyang have grown further apart by this summit.
The other sides of the Summit:
The short statement that was agreed between the leaders of the two countries happens to be quite vague in nature. This means that both the side have argued regarding the interpretation of the statement.
Moreover, North Korea also seems to have believed that Trump has given them an assurance to end the Korean War formally by signing a formal declaration by the end of the year. However, it has to be kept in mind that a number of people in Washington believe that signing a formal declaration to stop the war would be too great a step taken too soon.