Stephen Nulty 11:10 am on June 12, 2018
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Tuesday 12 June 2018 – Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un sign a joint deal after their summit in Singapore

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The summit that many thought would never happen has finally become a reality as President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un met at the Capella Hotel on the Sentosa island in Singapore.  The historic first-ever meeting of a US president and a leader of North Korea has been a question of debate and doubt for several months and comes only a few months after the two leaders were exchanging insults and threats of nuclear war with each other.  The meeting, despite Mr Trump’s verbal and Twitter attacks on the Korean leader, has come about because of the US President’s decision last year to break with a long-standing stance towards North Korea and offer to talk directly with its leader.  This was a major concession and a face-to-face meeting with a US President is what every North Korean leader has desired.  Many doubted, including myself, that Mr Trump would have the capacity to keep it together long enough first to see the meeting happen and second to get through it without a major blunder.  This seemed to be borne out in May when the President abruptly cancelled the meeting.  However, the summit was quickly back on the schedule, and the President changed his mind. I nevertheless still doubted that it would happen and, if it did, that it would be a success.  Thankfully I was wrong and it appears that the summit in Singapore has produced a positive deal between the two countries and as I was writing in my blog on Sunday, it is offering us a very positive way forward to continue negotiation and more friendly relations that ultimately could lead to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and even the withdrawal of US troops from South Korea.


Mr Trump and Mr Kim met privately with just their translators for about 40 minutes before moving to talks that included aids, followed by lunch with their aides.  The talks centred on the issue of denuclearisation and how to reduce tensions between the two states.  They came to an agreement which both men signed which promises to work towards new relations, with the US President later  promising at a news conference to suspend its joint military exercises with South Korea, which Mr Trump described as “provocative” to the North.  North Korea promised to work towards denuclearisation and agreed, according to Mr Trump at his news conference, that this should be verifiable and that Mr Kim “reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearisation” – a key demand by the Americans.  Mr Trump also said that Kim Jong-un also agreed to destroy a missile testing site.  The President said that economic sanctions will continue until denuclearisation is achieved – or possibly until it is underway, saying “we haven’t given up anything.”   The full joint statement reads:

Joint Statement of President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at the Singapore Summit.

President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) held a first, historic summit in Singapore on June 12, 2018.

President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un conducted a comprehensive, in-depth and sincere exchange of opinions on the issues related to the establishment of new US-DPRK relations and the building of a lasting and robust peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the DPRK, and Chairman Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Convinced that the establishment of new US-DPRK relations will contribute to the peace and prosperity of the Korean Peninsula and of the world, and recognizing that mutual confidence building can promote the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un state the following:

1. 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.

2. The United States and DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

3. Reaffirming the April 27, 2018 Panmunjom Declaration, the DPRK commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

4. The United States and the DPRK commit to recovering POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of those already identified.

Having acknowledged that the US-DPRK summit – the first in history – was an epochal event of great significance in overcoming decades of tensions and hostilities between the two countries and for the opening up of a new future, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un commit to implement the stipulations in the joint statement fully and expeditiously.

The United States and the DPRK commit to hold follow-on negotiations, led by the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and a relevant high-level DPRK official, at the earliest possible date, to implement the outcomes of the US-DPRK summit.

President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea have committed to cooperate for the development of new US-DPRK relations and for the promotion of peace, prosperity, and the security of the Korean Peninsula and of the world.

Mr Trump said the talks were “better than anybody could imagine” but most people didn’t have very high expectations for them.  As predicted by many the talks produced little in substance and more on vague promises and reassurances to work towards “peace and prosperity” and the wording of the agreement needs to be read with scrutiny. Robert Kelly, a professor of political science at Pusan University, said the text is “even thinner than most sceptics anticipated.”  Nevertheless, the talks have been welcomed by most.  China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, for instance told reporters that the fact that the two leaders “can sit together and have equal talks has important and positive meaning, and is creating a new history.” China, of course, will play a major role in any future relations with North Korea.  It already accounts for 90% of the North’s trade and will be in a key place to offer relief to the country.  There are already suggestions that the Chinese will ease sanctions against North Korea following the summit.

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After the summit concluded, Mr Kim headed for the airport while Mr Trump gave a news conference, where he was asked by reporters if he had brought up the issue of human rights with Mr Kim.  Mr Trump said he had but then praised the leader in a somewhat sycophantic manner: “Well; he is very talented. Anybody that takes over a situation like he did at 26 years of age and is able to run it and run it tough. I don’t say he was nice.”  This statement suggests that for now the Americans are going to sidetrack the issue of human rights abuses in North Korea and focus on denuclearisation.  This, combined with suspending military exercises with the South, looking towards withdrawing US troops from the peninsula, and the unspecified “security guarantees” for the North suggests that Mr Kim has done very well out of this summit.  The UK’s former ambassador to North Korea, John Everard, echoed this suggesting that Mr Kim would see the summit as a “great triumph.”  Mr Everard said:

“He will claim that he, his genius, his diplomatic nous have brought the president of the United States to the negotiating table. He will say, rightly enough, that he has been the first member of the dynasty to actually sit with a US president and be treated as an equal. This guy is on a roll.

“Kim Jong-un has scored a major major coup in this summit. All that he needed from it was the photo images, to be seen to be treated as an equal by the President of the United States. The rest was secondary.

“The declaration suggests he didn’t get that much out of the summit. It was only later, during President Trump’s press conference that we learned almost casually that the US is now going to suspend the joint military exercises with South Korea, to which the North Koreans have so long objected. So another big win by Kim Jong-un.”

Mr Everard argued that the agreement was “rather flimsy” and said that “all we have is President Trump’s word that Kim Jong-un is serious and a rather flimsy joint statement signed by the two people that doesn’t really tell us anything very much.”  He continued by pointing out that the key point over denuclearisation had already been made:

“Not only was it announced at the inter-Korean summit. It has been standard North Korean doctrine for many years. But notice the phrasing, it talks about ‘denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula’ not just of denuclearisation just of North Korea. In the North Korean mind that means that not just North Korea surrenders its nuclear weapons, but also that the possibility of a nuclear strike against North Korea by other countries, notably the United States, is also removed. So the United States will have to take some fairly stringent measures to limit its ability to hit North Korea. I’m not sure just how far Donald Trumphas realised what he has signed.”

Mr Kim’s main goal has always been the survival of his regime and it seems that Mr Trump is prepared to accept Mr Kim’s despotic rule in return for getting rid of his nuclear weapons.  What, if anything, will the US do to address the wider issues in North Korea if denuclearisation is achieved and when we could see the withdrawal of US troops and the easing or lifting of economic sanctions?  It seems to me that the suffering people of North Korea will be sacrificed at the altar of ending the threat of a nuclear North Korea. 


We can only hope that the lifting of sanctions, combined with the end of its nuclear weapons programme, will free resources for the benefit of the people of North Korea.  This would in an ideal situation suggest that the people would benefit, but we are dealing with a totalitarian regime who have shown no interest in the past for easing the suffering of its people.  The development of nuclear weapons, for instance, devastated the North’s economy and led to mass starvation and suffering by its people.  Will Mr Kim live up to his claims that he wants to focus on the economy?  Will his generals and his opponents allow him to take this route if he actually goes in that direction?  Mr Kim has been ruthless in suppressing and eradicating any potential threats to his rule internally, and his paranoia over threats to his rule may suppress any desire he has to reform the economy.

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Mr Trump’s commitment to US-South Korea joint military drills seems to have comes as a surprise to the South.    A spokesman for the Seoul government said: “In coordination with our ROK [Republic of Korea] partners, we will continue with our current military posture until we receive updated guidance,” while the South’s military released a statement which said: “Regarding President Trump’s comment regarding ending of the combined military drills. We need to find out the exact meaning or intention behind his comments at this point.”  These statements would suggest that Donald Trump has, as he often done, made decisions on the spur of the moment without consulting those concerned.  The ending of the drills also has opposition within the Trump administration.  James Mattis, the US defence secretary, for example believes that ending them would undermine the alliance between the South and the US and would weaken its deterrent effect on the North.

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