Opinion | A second Donald Trump-Kim Jong-un summit? They don’t even agree on what the first one meant
- Donald Kirk says North Korea and the US may not agree on what ‘denuclearise’ means, but is there harm in meeting again? The answer is yes, actually, if these summits give the impression that diplomacy has been tried and did not work
In Washington, Seoul and maybe even Pyongyang, summitry is in the air. Excitement and speculation are rife. Everyone is talking about talking. How about talks between the leaders of the two Koreas, between each of them and the US president, or maybe a meeting of all three together?
Moon, meanwhile, would love to receive Kim in Seoul. The mere idea of the North Korean leader deigning to visit the South Korean capital is mesmerising. It was all well and good for him to step across the line at their first summit in April, but that gesture was really symbolic, a photo-op.
Three South Korean presidents have gone to Pyongyang – Kim Dae-jung in 2000, Roh Moo-hyun in 2007 and Moon in September. Kim’s late father, Kim Jong-il, promised return visits to the South but never made it. There’s been talk of Kim Jong-un getting to Seoul this month, but time is running short.
