US, N Korea Won't Solve Nuclear Issue Without Eastern Asian Countries - Scholar

The US-based media outlets have repeatedly reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the denuclearization talks have been stalled since the historic meeting between Trump and Kim in Singapore in June 2018. Can progress in the denuclearzsation process continue to be made? Or will Trump’s ego and the insistence of a continued US military presence in the Korean peninsula derail any chance of a peaceful future?

Sputnik spoke with Dr Zhiguang Yin, lecturer in Chinese at the University Of Exeter for more insight on the issue.

Sputnik: Do you think that any breakthrough will be made at this Summit?

Dr Zhiguang Yin: There will be no significant breakthrough.  On one hand it seems like this meeting is rather ill prepared, and on the American side Trump is facing loads of domestic pressure that seems to belittle his efforts in the Korean peninsula.

From his first meeting with Kim in Singapore we’ve seen that all the efforts of denuclearisation has been basically overturned, in over a matter of days when he returned to the states, and there is no significant plan being laid out addressing the issue of how the denuclearisation could proceed, and what sort of commitment the American side is willing to put down in order to encourage the denuclearisation from the North Korean side.

Domestically it seems that Trump is facing a mountain of disagreement regarding his intention of resolving the Korean issue, and on the North Korean side; it feels like they are willing to put up a show to satisfy whatever Trump is willing to gain from this meeting.

It doesn’t seem to be falling entirely on the American side, and it seems to me that the North Koreans are willing to co-operate with neighbouring countries in order to facilitate its economic development or reform, regardless of the American’s pressure.

Sputnik: Could tensions between the US and North Korea re-escalate should the summit be a failure?

Dr Zhiguang Yin: We’ve seen loads and loads of contradictory comments coming from within the US government, so I wouldn’t be surprised to hear any sort of contradictory comments made in the next couple of days, regarding Trump’s trip to Hanoi.

I think our attention should really be on the North Korean and East Asian side, rather than on the bilateral relations between America and North Korea. Of course; the bilateral relations between America and North Korea are pivotal in order to resolve the lingering Korean War issue, which is still a truce and not necessarily the end of the war.

It has been fifty years and truce or not; North Korea is going to move along based on their own pace, according to their own will, and they cannot do it without collaborating with Eastern Asian neighbouring countries, and they know from their historical experience and practical knowledge of dealing with their neighbours, that they need to gain support from every side, particularly South Korea and the China side.

Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Dr Zhiguang Yin and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.