ASSESSMENTS

The Trump-Kim Summit: What It Means and What Happens Next

Jun 12, 2018 | 13:45 GMT

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met in Singapore on June 11. The historic meeting between the leaders moves their relationship into a new stage, as they agreed on a path to denuclearization that is marked by compromises and incentives.

(KEVIN LIM/The Strait Times/Handout/Getty Images)

Highlights

Trump and Kim signed a declaration outlining the next steps of the relationship between their two countries, leaving the details for lower-level officials to pencil in later.
The most notable developments from the summit are that the United States plans to halt military exercises with South Korea and that Washington is prepared to accept a more phased approach to North Korean denuclearization.
With many thorny details to work out, there is still plenty of room for the U.S.-North Korea dialogue to break down. But the events of the summit make it hard for the United States to justify any future return to a strategy of applying maximum pressure.

At long last, the much-touted Trump-Kim summit has taken place, resulting in a joint statement that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed to much fanfare. Ultimately, this top-level meeting serves as a starting point and paves the way for lower-level officials to work out the details of the broad framework put in place by Trump and Kim. That process could begin as early as next week. Read our analysis of the summit to separate the signal from the noise. ...

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