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Trump-Kim summit: Opinion

Trump-Kim summit: Opinion
The latest news, analysis and opinion on Trump-Kim summit: Opinion. In-depth analysis, industry insights and expert opinion.
last updated:
9 September, 2024
Illustration: Craig Stephens
Donald Trump

Opinion | Beware the knock-on effects of Trump’s embattled presidency

The need to fend off a gathering movement at home to impeach him will no doubt distract the already easily distracted Trump from matters of global concern, whether it is a denuclearisation deal with North Korea or trade deal with China.

Vietnam

Opinion | Trump met Kim in Hanoi, and the biggest winner is Vietnam

Trump-Kim summit

Opinion | Trump-Kim summit 2019: US right to forgo bad deal with North Korea

Trump-Kim summit

Asian Angle | Trump has fallen for Kim Jong-un’s deadly strategic deception

The Hanoi summit continues the quarter-century record of unrelenting failure that is US nuclear diplomacy with North Korea – Pyongyang’s provocations are as cruel as they are calculated, and the US keeps underestimating the regime.

Trump-Kim summit

Quick Take | Arrogance, miscalculation caused Trump-Kim talks to fail

The North Koreans went in confident, hoping to play Trump for a sucker, and Trump likely walked away thinking the same. Was the fact that discussions broke down really that surprising?

Trump-Kim summit

Opinion | US and North Korea must end state of war

Expectations have been lowered as Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un meet for a second time, but host Vietnam shows the economic benefits that can be reaped through peace

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Kim Jong-un

Capitalism works for communist Vietnam. Why not North Korea?

Aside from a meeting with Donald Trump, Kim Jong-un’s trip to Hanoi may open his eyes to the possibility of unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit in a tightly controlled society, at no risk to his grip on power.

Vietnamese watch men wrestle for a ball during the traditional “Vat Cau” or ball wrestling festival on the fifth day of Tet, Vietnam’s Lunar New Year celebration. On his trip to Hanoi, Kim Jong-un may be shocked to discover just how capitalist Vietnam has become. Photo: AFP
North Korea

Opinion | Can Vietnam’s history shine a light on Korea’s path to peace?

Vietnam’s recovery from civil war may offer lessons on the way forward for not just an end to North Korea’s nuclear programme, but also a new security arrangement for the Korean peninsula. There’s just one complication: the US.

Trump-Kim summit

Opinion | Concessions must be made if North Korea is to take new path

The next summit between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump is an opportunity to formulate realistic plans, a timetable and take bold steps – it has to be more than just a political show

Korean peninsula

Opinion | Why a second Trump-Kim summit might do more harm than good

North Korea and the US may not agree on what ‘denuclearise’ means, but is there harm in meeting again? The answer is yes, actually, if these summits give the impression that diplomacy has been tried and did not work.

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their Singapore summit in June. The US president has suggested that a second summit between the two could take place early in 2019. Photo: AP
Trump-Kim summit

Opinion | Trump should rely more on Seoul in negotiations with North Korea

Beijing has some leverage over Pyongyang but not as much as the Trump administration seems to think

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un has met South Korean President Moon Jae-in three times since April and a fourth summit is planned. Photo: Pyongyang Press Corps Pool via AP
Donald Trump

How Trump is furthering Kim Jong-un’s dream of domination

Donald Trump has raised false of hopes of Korean reunification but Kim Jong-un’s agenda cannot coincide with democracy.

Donald Trump

Opinion | How Trump’s poker player diplomacy gives the US a winning hand

The US president’s erratic negotiating style has come in for criticism but has proved to be one of his strengths.

Trump-Kim summit

Opinion | China the big loser in any US military withdrawal from Korea

While Beijing has good reason to be wary of American hegemony in the region, it must realise that a US military withdrawal will encourage unwanted developments: nuclear-armed neighbours in a unified Korea and Japan.

South Korean K-55 self-propelled howitzer artillery relocate after participating in a defence exercise at the Mugeon-ri drill field near the demilitarised zone in Paju, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, on June 19. In the wake of the Trump-Kim summit, South Korea and the US announced this week that they are suspending their joint military exercise scheduled for August. Photo: EPA-EFE
Trump-Kim summit

Asian Angle | Admit it: Trump’s Singapore date with Kim made us all safer

The results from the US-North Korea summit are at worst vague and opaque, but at least the two nations are no longer sabre-rattling with nukes, and that’s a good start – as long as the US president can stay out of his own way.

The results from the US-North Korea summit are at worst vague and opaque, but at least the two nations are no longer sabre-rattling with nukes, and that’s a good start – as long as the US president can stay out of his own way
China Briefing

China Briefing | Air China charter hints Beijing is wind beneath Kim’s wings

In many ways China can take credit for the outcome of the Trump-Kim summit, but the long-term prospects of closer relations between such unpredictable leaders could make some more than a bit jittery.

Just Saying

Just Saying | How Donald Trump is making China, not America, great again

Yonden Lhatoo puts the spotlight on how the US president is playing right into China’s hands, particularly in the context of the Singapore and G7 summits.

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Trump-Kim summit

Trump-Kim statement isn’t vague – it’s just flexible enough to work

Despite its many critics, the Trump-Kim summit paves the way to peace on the Korean peninsula by avoiding the pitfalls of deadlines and demands – the diplomats will work all that out later.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meets US President Donald Trump. Photo: AP
Trump-Kim summit

Did Trump just hand over Asia to China?

The US president may have earned his ‘dotard’ nickname in Singapore by signalling interest in reducing America’s military presence in East Asia, leaving China free to pursue its dreams of regional – and continental – dominance.

Trump-Kim summit

The View | Markets are less sensitive to Trump’s policy gaffes than we think

The market response to the underachieving Trump-Kim summit and the tensions in the run-up just shows that investors see politics as important only when it affects economics.

Trump searches for foreign policy legacy at Singapore summit with Kim

If it unfolds as hoped, Trump’s new deal with the North Korean leader would provide some substance to a foreign policy platform that has thus far been more about tearing down the achievements of his predecessors.

US President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference after his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore on June 12. Photo: Reuters
Trump-Kim summit

Singapore summit should lead to calming of ties

A first-ever meeting between a US and North Korean leader is bound to raise expectations, but the gap in demands is too wide to be resolved in one go and tough bargaining lies ahead

Kim Jong-un tours Singapore on Monday. Photo: KCNA via EPA-EFE

How peace could break out in Korea after the Trump-Kim summit

A peace treaty could relieve the Korean peninsula of its tensions, and a series of confidence- and trust-building measures could produce denuclearisation and end the need for the UN command there. The process, however, would almost certainly be gradual

North Korea nuclear crisis

US must address North Korea’s security concerns for results at Singapore talks

Discussions on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula will fail without assuaging North Korea’s security concerns.

US-China relations

How Singapore’s ‘smart power’ can inspire China-US relations in the run up to Trump-Kim talks

As the Trump-Kim summit draws closer, those involved in China-US relations should heed Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s advice.

America may not be thinking strategically about its relationship with China, or its role in the wider world, according to Singapore’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong. Illustration: Craig Stephens
Trump-Kim summit

Don’t overhype Singapore: Trump should see North Korea talks as a process, not a conclusion

The Trump administration has built expectations to extraordinary heights for a single summit with Kim Jong-un, when the most effective agreements are the product of a laborious process.

People watch a TV screen at Seoul Railway Station in South Korea showing North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump. Photo: AP
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