‘Inadequate agreement’ or ‘mutual will’?

Chairman of the State Affairs Commission Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump shake hands ahead of their one-on-one meeting. / Image= Kevin Lim/THE STRAITS TIMES

While the U.S.-North Korea summit will be remembered as an historic event, the resultant agreement on denuclearization fell short of expectations. The joint statement from the summit includes the passage “Chairman Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” which is meaningful in the sense that it acknowledges the principle of denuclearization, but is lacking to those who expected a more specific timeline for denuclearization.

The high expectations for an agreement between the leaders of the two countries stemmed from the remarks of a senior US official before the talks. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during an interview with Japan’s NHK on the 7th, “A timeline on denuclearization will definitely be discussed at the US-NK summit”, implying that relevant content would be included in the agreement. He also suggested at a White House press conference that CVID would be mentioned in the agreement, saying, “The only thing the U.S. is willing to accept is complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization, or CVID.”

However, neither CVID nor the timeline for denuclearization were included in the joint statement and consequently, the specifics of denuclearization will have to be decided on through follow-up consultations between the US and North Korea. Consensus will have to be reached on when and to what extent measures such as special inspections of suspected facilities and shut down of nuclear facilities, the removal or disposal of nuclear material and nuclear warheads, and the abandonment of ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) in North Korea will be carried out, and on whether the regime guarantees measures by the US will be implemented before or after this.

It is also true that there is concern over whether a sound agreement can be reached on issues that were not able to be resolved in the working group meetings held late into the night ahead of the summit, even if follow-up negotiations between Secretary of State Pompeo and North Korean high-level officials are to take place soon.

‘Mutual will’ of the two leaders

Obviously, the recent agreement between the US and North Korea is clearly different from those of the past. Above all, the leaders of North Korea and the US met with each other in person to come to an agreement. As stated in the agreement, the two leaders agreed to “establish new US-NK relations.”

Kim Jong Un said, “I signed a historic document that signifies the end of the past and a new beginning,” while Trump claimed, “The world will probably see great change.” Trump did not shy away from expressing his hopes and willingness regarding a change in US-NK relations, saying, “I think our whole relationship with North Korea and the Korean Peninsula is going to be a very much different situation than it has in the past.”

If follow-up measures for denuclearization can be accelerated by Kim visiting Washington and Trump visiting Pyongyang, we may witness a qualitative shift toward a new era.

‘Inadequate agreement’ vs. ‘Mutual will’

Although the summit agreement itself may not have lived up to expectations, the leaders of both countries showed their will to open a new path, and it remains unclear how the situation will develop.

It should be noted, however, that the will of individuals can be less reliable than a substantiated document in the form of an agreement. As of now, the two leaders share a strong willingness to improve relations, but they may change their minds in the future depending on the circumstances. Thus, in order for progress to be made in denuclearization and for US-North Korea relations to be stabilized, it is crucial to ensure that the ‘will’ of both leaders leads to concrete and explicit agreements.

Will we be able to continue to move forward? It will take at least several months for things to become clearer.

* Views expressed in Guest Columns do not necessarily reflect those of Daily NK.