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Trump-Kim summit

Feb 26,2019 - Last updated at Feb 26,2019

The summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam on February 27-28 is projected to be a make-or-break meeting, as the two leaders cannot delay any longer their projected goal or fail to deliver on their promises to their respective peoples.

Prescient Trump wants nothing less than the denuclearisation of North Korea, while North Korean President Kim wants nothing less than the complete lifting of all punitive sanctions being imposed on his country.

These are obviously the maximalist objectives of the two leaders, but they may have to lower their expectations in order to give their summit a chance to succeed.

The complete denuclearisation of North Korea is more easily said than done and may not be tenable under the prevailing conditions, especially after decades of hostility and mistrust between the two countries. Kim may not, at the end of the day, decide to risk all by abandoning his biggest card in the negotiations with his US counterpart and then be left with nothing to fall back to if the other end of the bargain with the US remains subject to fluctuations.

President Trump may have to lower his expectations when he meets Kim by demanding a slower and more gradual pace of denuclearisation by North Korea in return for a slow lifting of economic and political sanctions on North Korea.

The two sides need a testing grace period before they commit themselves to the final end game of their negotiations. Of course, the whole world will breathe a sigh of relief if the two leaders can make meaningful progress in their summit, and failure to deliver on their ultimate goals should not spell gloom or doom.

If these hopes are dashed for one reason or another, the two leaders must not lose hope and must instead try again and again till they arrive at a solution.

After all, what is at stake is not only the relations between the two countries, but rather the entire international community’s vested interest in controlling the proliferation of nuclear weapons. President Trump has a chance to strike a positive deal with the North Korean leader. Hopefully, he will not miss this opportunity.

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