The failure of the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi in February has caused frustration and dissatisfaction with the progress of diplomatic efforts for the North’s denuclearization.

This setback could be seen in a statement that Kim made to North Korea’s parliament April 12, where he implied that Washington had to become more amenable to compromise by the end of this year, if Pyongyang was to agree to a third summit seeking its negotiated denuclearization.

As is now known, the Hanoi summit collapsed because the U.S. was seeking the complete nuclear disarmament of North Korea before approval was sought for sanctions lifting in their entirety. This was in conflict with Kim’s proposal for partial denuclearization in return for piecemeal sanctions lifting, or the so-called “action for action” framework favored by Pyongyang in previous negotiations.

… Liang Tuang Nah, Ph.D., is a research fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, a constituent unit of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.