Sputnik: What will be the aims of the US and North Korea at the summit and will it be successful?
Dr. Marcus Papadopoulos: An enormous achievement has been made. America and North Korea have agreed to meet with each other, stand with each other and to discuss the problems plaguing the tremendously dangerous situation on the Korean Peninsula.
This is something that is not achieving as much publicity as it really should. Only a few months ago, the thought of a meeting between the two taking place would have been unthinkable, so we should emphasize that this achievement is enormous.
There will be many issues discussed at the summit. Nobody should be under the illusion that there is going to be a ground-breaking deal stemming from this summit, because there won’t be one. There will have to be many more meetings in the future.
First and foremost, they will discuss how to reduce the current tension on the Korean Peninsula because that is the pressing question for Washington and Pyongyang and indeed for the region as a whole.
Sputnik: If the summit is a failure, what potential ramifications could there be?
Dr. Marcus Papadopoulos: Let’s not forget that the American government and North Korean government are diametrically opposed to each other on pretty much every issue that there is. Both countries have an immense military force, especially the Americans and there is a tremendous amount of suspicion and hostility between the two countries.
There is however no reason to suggest that the summit could be a complete and utter failure, because what we have to remember is that, in the real world of politics there would have been discussions taking place during the last few weeks privately between the two sides, so Trump and Kim will arrive at the summit with the issues already having been discussed amongst them.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
