Trump-Kim Summit

Quick Focus

Will the Kim-Trump Summit Ever Happen? Could the Summit Succeed?

If only Nixon could go to China, perhaps only Trump could meet Kim: any other U.S. president would refrain from meeting with Kim Jong-un until after an agreement has been reached to roll back North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs. However, traditional U.S. foreign policy goes against Trump’s unorthodox style. With a firm belief that prior U.S. presidents have handled North Korea incorrectly, an innate desire to do things diff...

Troy Stangarone

Senior Director, Korea Economic Institute of America
The surprise presidential summit between Kim Jong-un and Xi Jinping raises prospects that Kim will hold a similar meeting with Donald Trump. Kim’s Beijing trip, and progress towards an upcoming intra-Korean summit, indicates that he has consolidated sufficient power to travel and negotiate internationally. A DPRK-U.S. summit, unlike a Chinese-DPRK or intra-Korean one, would be unprecedented. Unfortunately, holding such a meeting is far ea...

Richard Weitz

Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
It is highly likely that the Kim-Trump summit will happen, as Pyongyang has been seeking direct talks with Washington for years. There is no better moment than this – during a reduction of tensions on the Korean peninsula – to finally give diplomacy a chance. It is time to recognize that the traditional approach, based on “maximum pressure and isolation,” has not led to any progress with North Korea. Whether the summit succeeds depends ...

Maria Rosaria Coduti

PhD Candidate at the University of Sheffield
As there is strong demand for a summit in both the US and the DPRK, it is very likely to take place. For the US, resolving the DPRK nuclear issue is a diplomatic priority. As such, a DPRK-USA meeting will help Trump get out of a difficult situation at home and the image of ‘messing around’ in diplomacy. It will also differentiate him from previous presidents. Meanwhile, the DPRK’s expressed willingness to give up its nuclear program has...

Zheng Jiyong

Director at the Center for Korean Studies, Fudan University
The situation on the Korean Peninsula is in such flux that people are struggling to keep up with it. On 8 March, President Trump made the decision to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un almost immediately after hearing the briefing of the South Korean special envoy’s delegation. Though details, like when and where remain undecided, the message is unmistakably clear—a meeting is a positive step and it is better sooner than later.

Ruan Zongze

VP, China Institute of Int'l Studies
I think the Kim-Trump summit will take place and believe that it is already a firm political decision for both sides. President Trump’s primary goal in 2018 is to rack up some visible (even if short-term) wins to see the Republicans through the mid-term elections, and provide a foundation for his reelection. Therefore, though offended by South Korea’s push for reconciliation, Trump was pragmatic enough to take the ball thrown to him by M...

An Gang

Adjunct Fellow, Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University
Last year witnessed 'the highest tension' in the Korean Peninsula since 1994. Early this year, North Korea's gestures and the proposed Inter-Korea Summit and a possible Kim-Trump Summit offered a glimmer of hope to lower the tension. There’s a high probability the Kim-Trump Summit will happen. It is not because either side has dramatically changed their rigid positions, but because there is no better alternative and neither side will h...

Fan Jishe

Professor, the Central Party School of Communist Party of China