Sputnik: What did you make of the summit?
Dr. Loretta Napoleoni: Well I think the first meeting was more or less what I expecting so they made a commitment to pacify the peninsula, so the peace process begins. They actually discussed the return of the POW, so that has been a great achievement, but for the rest its just good intentions, they have to meet again, there has not been a true denuclearization agreement, because we don’t know how it’s going to take place or when it will take place or the conditions. So it’s no different to what we knew before.
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Sputnik: The terms of the document are quite vague; do you think there will be more to come in terms of the agreement?
Dr. Loretta Napoleoni: The document was going to be vague because this was the first meeting, until 6 months ago these two countries were on the verge of war. I wasn’t expecting more than we have seen. We have to see what happens after, Trump says he’s going Pyongyang, he may go as early as July, he also says he will invite Kim to the White House in due course. We will have to see how this relationship develops.
Sputnik: What will this mean for the region and could we expect more summits between North Korea and its neighbours?
Dr. Loretta Napoleoni: I think they will have a very good relationship with in economic terms, commercial terms between South and North Korea and China. I can see that being the main joint venture. I don’t think Japan is going to benefit much, there is still hostility towards Japan coming from the other three countries, and also the Japanese might not present a great advantage apart from their markets.
Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
