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| People ride past a big sign about the upcoming second summit between the United States and North Korea, outside the summit's international media center in Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 25. AP-Yonhap |
By Kim Yoo-chul
HANOI ― A possible peace declaration is looming large at this week's United States-North Korea summit, here, with U.S. President Donald Trump expected to offer sanctions relief to North Korea, a former U.S. diplomat said, Monday.
"Trump may offer Kim a peace declaration, sanctions relief or agree to withdraw strategic assets from the region. After all, Trump has suspended U.S.-South Korean military exercises for eight months, even labeling his own country's military exercises with South Korean ally as provocative. In Hanoi, no news is good news as I see it," Sean King, senior vice president of Park Strategies and an East Asia specialist, told The Korea Times.
King, a former senior adviser for Asia in the United States and Foreign Commercial Service at the United States Department of Commerce, added both Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are no longer talking about the denuclearization of the North.
"Rather, we are now talking about the supposed complete denuclearization of the peninsula, which is North Korean code for South Korea's removal from the U.S. nuclear umbrella and the withdrawal of U.S. troops ― which Trump, in his heart of hearts, probably wants anyway," King said.
The U.S. expert implied the ongoing economic sanctions on the North will have to stay in place until Pyongyang carries out a complete denuclearization, fully and verifiably.
"We should not only maintain our existing sanctions on North Korea but also sanction the mainland Chinese banks handling North Korea's cash. Trump was already going soft on North Korea. I don't get the sense he conducts foreign policy in reaction to domestic affairs or politics. For better or worse, he does what he wants to do," King said.
While South Korea hopes to see an early resumption of joint economic and business projects with the North as a reciprocal step as a result of this week's Trump-Kim summit, King told the publication that Seoul "shouldn't be funding and investing in North Korea anyway as these monies will help sustain North Korea."
According to the expert, security comes first for the North and they think their current security is imperfect if they don't have some nuclear weapons and relevant capability. A cut of nuclear weapons could be negotiated, but denuclearization is unlikely.
"The idea of any peace declaration in Hanoi concerns me as it's from there a slippery slope to some kind of peace regime or even foolhardy peace treaty which would dismantle the United Nations Command and set the stage for the removal of U.S. troops," King said, adding he expects North Korea to give up its nuclear program if U.S. troops leave South Korea.
Trump and Kim are set to meet in the Vietnamese capital on Wednesday and Thursday for their second summit, eight months after the first.
Last June in Singapore, the two leaders pledged to work toward the complete denuclearization of the peninsula, but their rather vaguely worded agreement failed to produce concrete results and U.S. Democratic senators and intelligence officials have warned Trump against cutting a deal that would do little to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
"I supported the idea of the Singapore summit as Kim's invitation came through South Korea. For Trump, not to have accepted Kim's invitation would have been to marginalize and disrespect our own ally. But Pyongyang further refuses to renounce its claim to South Korea's terra firma."
