HANOI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th February, 2019) ANOI, February 27 (Sputnik), Valentina Shvartsman - All eyes are turned to the Vietnamese capital of HANOI (Pakistan Point news / Sputnik - 27th February, 2019) anoi, which is due to host the much-anticipated two-day summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that will kick off on Wednesday.
Kim arrived in Vietnam by train early Tuesday morning, after traveling through the whole of China for about three days. At the Vietnamese border town of Dong Dang, the North Korean leader switched to a black limousine that took him to Hanoi. Upon his arrival he met with Nguyen Phu Trong, the Vietnamese president and secretary general of the country's Communist Party.
Kim's American counterpart arrived later on his plane, Air Force One, which landed at Hanoi's International Airport on Tuesday night. Trump will meet with Nguyen on Wednesday.
DETALAIZING PREVIOUS AGREEMENTS
Following their historic first summit in Singapore in last June, Trump and Kim announced an agreement stipulating that Pyongyang would make efforts to promote the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in exchange for the United States and South Korea freezing their military drills.
Despite being a significant step forward after a decades-long standoff, the agreement has largely been seen as rather vague in terms of procedures and time lines. Moreover, no concrete steps have been taken by either party. The Hanoi summit between the US and North Korean leaders is expected to focus on bringing more clarity to arrangements made during their previous meeting eight months ago.
Professor Ruediger Frank, the head of the University of Vienna's Department of East Asian Economy and Society and internationally renowned North Korea expert, told Sputnik that the two leaders were likely to promote the denuclearization process "at least in words and on paper," noting, however, that this would not resolve the problem completely.
"I expect a few more specific steps in a tit-for-tat fashion, but not the final resolution of the issue," Frank said.
The expert further noted that even though there was always a chance that things might go wrong, he remained optimistic about the upcoming talks.
"My impression is that this summit has been prepared well and that the two parties have already agreed on something that they both find satisfactory," he said.
North Korea has reportedly agreed to inspections of nuclear facilities in Yongbyon. Although it has not been confirmed officially so far, the issue might be on the agenda during this week's talks.
A few days prior to the summit, the White House released a bulletin saying that Trump was "committed to achieving a bright and secure future for all people on the Korean Peninsula and across the world." The bulletin added that Washington and its partners were ready to explore opportunities for investing in North Korea as well as improving its infrastructure and food security.
A week earlier, the US president told a press conference that he had "a very good relationship" with Kim.
Despite Trump's overall optimism and apparent soft spot toward the North Korean leader, the president's advisers are likely to convince him to proceed with caution, which would likely limit the possible effect of the summit, James Edward Hoare, a research associate at London's school of Oriental and African Studies and former senior UK diplomat in Pyongyang, told Sputnik.
"Mr. Trump will want it to work but his advisers will be cautious and distrustful of Kim. I would be surprised if there was much advance," Hoare, who established the UK embassy in North Korea, said.
Indeed, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said ahead of the talks that Washington still considered North Korea a threat.
According to Hoare, North Korea will hardly rush into making further concessions.
"North Korea will argue that it has maintained its missile and nuclear moratorium but has got little in return. And the two sides remain far apart on what they mean on denuclearisation," Hoare explained.
Tong Zhao, a fellow in Carnegie's Nuclear Policy Program based at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, also warned against high expectations for the Hanoi summit in his comments to Sputnik.
"Any concessions that North Korea will agree to at the summit probably would not immediately undermine its capability to operate its existing nuclear deterrent forces," Zhao said.
Although Pyongyang seeks to maintain an independent strategic nuclear deterrent for the foreseeable future, the summit might be fruitful if Washington focuses on negotiating a freeze or limit of the North's nuclear program rather than immediate suspension, the expert pointed out.
"At the end of the day, North Korean leaders appear willing to accept restraints on the scale and scope of its capabilities," he said.
The expert further explained that upon ensuring the nuclear deterrence, the North Korean leader chose to focus on the country's economic development, which would be largely assisted by better ties with Washington.
"As the US-China strategic competition grows, having a relatively good relationship with Washington can also help Pyongyang obtain maximum wiggle room for itself by implementing a strategy of playing strategic balance between Washington and Beijing," he said.
Discussions of opening liaison offices in North Korea and the gradual lifting of sanctions against the country would be "a big win" for Kim, Zhao noted, adding that it would hardly be a loss for the United States, too.
"This won't be a bad outcome from the perspective of promoting peace and stability. To end North Korea's isolation and to open up North Korea is the best way to mitigate its deep paranoia and fear toward the outside world. At the end of the day, it is not North Korea's nuclear weapons that threaten us; it is its paranoia," the expert explained.
The situation on the Korean Peninsula has improved since the beginning of last year as Kim began to actively engage in dialogue with both Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
