Trump, Kim Sign Historic Pact for Denuclearization

The Korea Times

13 June 2018

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed a historic pact to achieve “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula in return for a regime security guarantee following their summit in Singapore, Tuesday.

Liang Tuang Nah, a research fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore, said the outcome of the summit was well within expectations.

“Neither leader can afford to have the summit fail. From Kim’s perspective, a successfully concluded statement with Trump would cement his position, to both the North Korean people as well as the international community, that he is a legitimate world leader and that North Korea is the equal of the U.S.,” he said.

“Looking at the outcome in Trump’s shoes, it can be argued that he needs a foreign policy victory to contrast the recent fiasco resulting from the concluded G7 summit,”

As for the points of agreement in the document signed between both leaders, he said: “One can argue their substance is no weaker or stronger than the Panmunjeom Declaration signed between President Moon and Chairman Kim.

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