A US-North Korea flash summit remains a long shot despite Donald Trump signalling he was open to such talks and describing Pyongyang as “sort of a nuclear power” as he embarked on his Asia trip last week.
The choice of words by the US president could be interpreted as a diplomatic concession by Kim Jong-un, some analysts said.
Others said the North Korean leader’s focus was on alliances with China and Russia amid the Ukraine war, making it difficult to devote time and resources to a photo-op summit with the United States.
“Chances are still low, but we cannot rule it out,” Cho Han-bum of the Korea Institute for National Unification told This Week in Asia.
“Even if they are not able to reach an agreement on the North’s denuclearisation in the initial stage, such a mini summit could pave the way for further negotiations among officials.”
Having locked in summits with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Kim’s meeting with Trump would showcase his enhanced international status to his people, while the American leader could claim credit for resolving the nuclear threat Pyongyang posed to Washington, he said.
