[Editorial] Hanoi summit hopefully ends Cold War order

T-shirts with the faces of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump are seen ahead of the North Korea-U.S. summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, February 27. (REUTERS)

On Feb. 27, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump sat down together in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi for the “talk of the century.” The meeting came eight months after the North Korea-US summit held in Singapore on June 12, 2018. During that time, the Korean Peninsula has rapidly transformed from a scene of confrontation to a place for dialogue.

But there’s still a long way to go. North Korea and the US have only now set out on a long journey toward wrapping up 70 years of hostility and normalizing relations. The two leaders are tasked with the duty of drawing up a concrete plan for denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and for building a new bilateral relationship. The progress that’s achieved during this summit will determine whether Korean Peninsula affairs and North Korea-US relations surge forward or slide backward. It’s our earnest desire that two leaders will take advantage of the golden opportunity presented by this summit to bring an end to the Cold War order.

Hopes for this summit have been running high since before the two leaders arrived in Hanoi. North Korea’s state-run media provided timely coverage of Kim’s trip to Vietnam and then took the unusual step of reporting on the public’s reaction. Trump himself said that the meeting would be tremendous and tweeted that he was “looking forward to a very productive summit.”

But the challenges ahead are daunting. In the first summit, the very fact that the two leaders met was a major step toward clearing away the vestiges of the Cold War, but this time, they need to get much more concrete results. During their joint statement in Singapore last year, the two leaders agreed on the overarching goals of resetting North Korea-US relations, establishing lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and achieving the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In the second summit, the general declarations from the first summit need to be elaborated with greater specificity.

The critical question is how North Korea’s steps toward denuclearization will be matched by the US’ corresponding measures. The North has already declared that it will permanently dismantle its Yongbyon nuclear facilities as the US takes corresponding measures, and the US has been asking for additional steps from North Korea. On Feb. 21, a high-ranking US official hinted that the US also wants a freeze on North Korea’s nuclear weapon and missile programs. If the North and the US reach such an agreement, it would be fair to say that the two countries have gotten further than they’ve ever been in 30 years of negotiations.

For such substantial progress to be achieved, of course, the US’ incentives need to be generous as well. The US is reportedly considering an end-of-war declaration and the establishment of mutual liaison offices. There’s unlikely to be much disagreement on those two points. But since North Korea is strongly pushing for relief from economic sanctions, the US will be unlikely to win the North over without making concessions in that area.

It’s fair to say that a bold change of attitude by the US will increase the likelihood of the two sides reaching a major compromise and making generous concessions. If North Korea and the US furthermore reach a general agreement about the roadmap and timetable for achieving denuclearization and normalizing bilateral relations, the Hanoi summit will be regarded as having produced major progress.

Both Trump and Kim are in desperate need of meaningful results from this summit. Kim said in his New Year’s address last month that he would strive to get results that would be welcomed by the international community. Trump has also said on several occasions that he has high hopes for this summit. It’s our sincere hope that the results of this summit will satisfy the entire world’s desire for the end of the Cold War and for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, as the two leaders have promised.

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