Trump - Kim Jong Un Singapore Summit - Burning Issues

Table of Contents

Introduction

Two years after the first-ever face-to-face between leaders of the U.S. and North Korea — hailed by President Trump as a major breakthrough in relations — Pyongyang on Friday labelled the historic summit an “empty promise” and accused Washington of hypocrisy.

Square 1 (Background)

Relations between the US and North Korea have made for an interesting watch, particularly post Donald Trump becoming the US president. In November 2017, tensions escalated so much between North Korea and the US because North Korea had been engaged in testing intercontinental ballistic missiles
It seemed unlikely that after six month the two leaders would agree to meet.
An intercontinental ballistic missile is a guided ballistic missile with a minimum range of 5,500 kilometres primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery.

Road from Tensions to Meetings

In early 2018, after a meeting between South Korea’s National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, South Korea announced that Kim had expressed interest in meeting Trump.
In April 2018, a meeting between Kim Jong Un and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in took place at Panmunjom, near the border between North Korea and South Korea.
At the Panmunjom summit, the two leaders agreed to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula The meeting between North Korea and USA scheduled on June 12.

Singapore Summit

At the Singapore summit, a joint statement was signed by the two leaders, outlining goals such as a commitment to “join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula” and the DPRK committing to working towards “complete denuclearisation”.
After Trump’s return to the US, he said North Korea was no longer a nuclear threat but simultaneously ordered the continuation of restrictions on North Korea and its citizens.
Approximately four months after the Singapore Summit ended, there were reports that the two leaders would meet for a second summit, that was eventually held in Hanoi in February 2019.

After Singapore summit

The second summit in Hanoi between Kim Jong Un and Trump ended in a stalemate after the two countries were unable to reach any agreement.
The summit in Hanoi ended abruptly with Trump claiming that North Korea had wanted an end to all sanctions, while Pyongyang said they had only been seeking a partial lifting of UN sanctions.

2 years After the summit

In a statement released on Friday 12 June, the anniversary of the meeting of the two leaders in Singapore in 2018, North Korea state news agency KCNA quoted North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Son Gwon:
“Never again will we provide the US chief executive with another package to be used for achievements without receiving any returns.”

Foreign minister further said

Ri’s statements continued: “Nothing is more hypocritical than an empty promise,” implying that Pyongyang was dismissive of Trump’s constant attempts to project that he was on good terms with North Korea’s leader regardless of official diplomatic relations between the two countries.
North Korea has also objected to what it perceives as interference in interKorean affairs following the US government’s remarks on communication having been abruptly cut between Pyongyang and Seoul this past week.

North Korea Warning to USA

North Korea said the United States should “hold its tongue” and instead focus on its own domestic turmoil unless Washington wanted to “experience a hair-raiser”.
The statement attributed to Kwon Jong Gun, head of North Korean foreign ministry’s North America Department, further added: “It would be good not only for the US interests, but also for the easy holding of upcoming presidential election.