Region to benefit from successful Trump-Kim meeting, says Dr M

Diplomats scrambling to close chasm between two leaders ahead of summit

TOKYO: The East Asian region stands to benefit from a successful meeting between United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.

“We welcome the opportunity for the West to meet the leader of North Korea. Any opportunity to meet (is) something that will be good for the world. It is far better than confrontation,” the prime minister said.

Speaking at a dialogue with foreign correspondents at the Japan National Press Club here, Dr Mahathir said the Trump-Kim meeting would reduce tension in this part of the world and could contribute towards improving good relations among Japan, South Korea, China and North Korea.

“All this will, in turn, enhance trade between countries and increase prosperity of the world.”

The North Korea-US Summit will take place in Singapore today, and will be the first meeting between a sitting US president and the leader of North Korea.

Dr Mahathir said although there were some quarters who were sceptical about Jong-un’s change in attitude and question whether his intentions were genuine, the important thing was that there would be contact between the two sides.

“Any contact between people who are in conflict with each other is something that we should welcome. There is a Malay saying: tak kenal, maka tak cinta (if you do not know, then you cannot love). So, if you know each other, it is always good for improving relations between people and between countries.”

UNITED States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sit down today for an unprecedented summit that has raised hopes of progress on the troubled Korean peninsula.

From Kim’s nuclear arsenal to normalising ties between the two decades-old foes, these are the issues facing the two leaders at what Trump has called a “onetime shot” at peace.

This is the absolute crux of the summit and there remains a chasm between the two sides that diplomats were scrambling to close on the eve of the meeting.

Washington is demanding the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation (CVID) of North Korea. In Trump’s words: “They have to de-nuke. If they don’t denuclearise, that will not be acceptable.”

North Korea has repeatedly expressed a commitment to the “denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”, notably in a report by state agency KCNA on the eve of the summit. But, the term is open to interpretation on both sides and it remains unclear what concessions Kim is prepared to offer.

South Korea estimates the North has 50kg of plutonium, reportedly enough for around 10 bombs, and a “considerable” ability to produce uranium weapons.

Siegfried Hecker, a noted US nuclear expert, said the immediate CVID of the North was “unimaginable” and “tantamount to a North Korean surrender scenario”.

North and South Korea remain technically at war after the 195053 conflict ended in an armistice that Seoul’s then leader refused to sign and divided the peninsula along the Demilitarised Zone.

At their summit in April Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to seek a peace treaty and Trump mused earlier this month: “Can you believe we’re talking about the ending of the Korean War?”

That could precede a full treaty, which would raise complex issues needing extensive negotiation, and would need to involve China, which backed the North during the conflict and is a signatory to the armistice.

But Trump said: “We could absolutely sign an agreement and we’re looking at it”, adding: “Sounds a little bit strange, but that’s probably the easy part.”

Ahead of the meeting, Trump has dangled the carrot of a normalisation of diplomatic ties between the former foes and even a White House visit for Kim, which would confirm his arrival on the world stage.

The other carrot for Kim is a possible loosening of punishing United Nations Security Council sanctions but here, too, there is discord, with Washington saying sanctions can end only when denuclearisation is complete and Pyongyang wanting “phased” relief as they make progress towards that goal.

Kim’s main concern is the survival of his own regime — South Korean President Moon Jae-in told reporters that the Pyongyang leader had “concerns on whether he could trust that the US would end its hostile policy and guarantee the security of his regime when the North denuclearises itself.”