Expectations need to be checked over Kim talks

NOT for the first time, US President Donald Trump has stunned the world – this time by agreeing to meet the man he’s grown so fond of ridiculing as ‘Little Rocket Man’. Only weeks ago he had threatened to obliterate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un with “fire and fury”.

But who is quibbling. If something good can emerge from the prevailing chaos in the White House it should be grabbed with both hands; especially if that something could avert savage and unnecessary war.

Globally reaction seems to see-saw between optimism to outright alarm. Some fear Trump is being naïve and could be made a laughing stock. Others argue his very unpredictability could be the key to breaking decades of deadlock. Either way, without sight of a strategy or game plan it is too early in the process to be overly hopeful.

Expectations need to be kept in check until details are clear. On one level Trump has gotten what he asked for. Kim has agreed to discuss giving up his nuclear weapons, suspend missile and nuclear tests, and tolerate routine US-South Korea military drills.

But Kim too has also secured a prize his family has sought for several years; namely, a summit with a sitting US president.

In any event a set piece that leaves both sides able to claim victory and that does not result in mass loss of life must be a whole lot better than the feared alternative.