After Hanoi Summit

US, NK should seek further dialogue

The breakdown of talks between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, last week stunned the world.

The second US-North Korea summit was supposed to build on the first in Singapore in June 2018, where the two leaders produced only a vague agreement to work toward North Korea's denuclearization.

But instead of producing a more specific agreement, the two leaders only reaffirmed the huge differences in their positions.

Since the two leaders' departure from Hanoi, many were left wondering whether there will be another summit because it ended without any agreement followed by a rare cancellation of a planned lunch and signing ceremony.

For many Koreans, the collapse of the Hanoi summit was particularly heartbreaking because they had hoped that a successful one would create the conditions for the North Korean leader to visit Seoul soon.

While more people are increasingly skeptical of the usefulness of summits in achieving North Korea's denuclearization, there are some reasons to hope for better results in the future.

One is that the two leaders did not seem to part ways in a hostile way. The White House disclosed a photo of Kim and Trump shaking hands before they said good-bye, and surprisingly Kim had a big smile.

There was also no bashing of the US in the North Korean media or from the North Korean officials who took part in the negotiations. Trump also sounded his upbeat self after arriving home.

One of his Twitter posts underlined 'substantive negotiations' with Kim and the good relationship he had with the North Korean leader

Despite the continued rapport between the two leaders, the outlook for future US-North Korea talks is not very promising because the two sides are saying...