June 13, 2018

The Singapore summit’s three big takeaways

By: Mira Rapp-Hooper

It was like prom for Asia security watchers. The surprise invitation came out of the blue and was accepted, seemingly on a whim.

The Singapore summit quickly became the will-they-or-won’t-they event of the season, quite nearly derailed in fits of pique, saved only by an emotional exchange of letters. With abundant pageantry that kept experts glued to the coverage throughout the night, Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un finally shook hands on Sentosa Island — the first presidential-level meeting between an American leader and his North Korean counterpart, with the U.S. Stars and Stripes flying alongside the flag of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Here are three takeaways from the much-anticipated meeting.

The two sides didn’t agree on what “denuclearization” meant — but maybe that allowed them to talk.

Months before Trump and Kim met in Singapore, experts began to call attention to a festering bilateral issue: The two sides did not share the same definition of “denuclearization,” despite the fact that this was the subject of the summit.


Read the Full Article at The Washington Post

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