Ex-UN Envoy: Trump-Kim Summit Was 'Spectacle', Real Work Has Still to Be Done

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will remain a media event until diplomatic negotiators can agree on measures to build confidence, former Vice President of the UN Disarmament NGO committee, Jonathan Granoff, told Sputnik.

On June 12, Trump and Kim met in Singapore where they issued an agreement that requires Pyongyang to denuclearize in exchange for a freeze on US-South Korean military drills and eventually sanctions relief.

"Singapore was government by ‘spectacle.’ The public was bedazzled," Granoff said. "The real work has still to be done — the drafting and agreement on confidence building measures, creating a comprehensive system of inspection, agreeing on denuclearization and demilitarization measures."

Although the moment appeared to be a potential publicity stunt, it could also be a key opportunity, Granoff added.

"The Singapore Summit opens the door for potential progress to integrate North Korea in the community of nations. It identifies a set of issues that need to be clarified. The eyeballs of the world as Kim emphasized were focused on Singapore," Granoff said.

The negotiators, he continued, must deal with a number of open questions such as how to define demilitarization, what to do with other weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and what form of a negotiated security will North Korea require.

The US negotiators would need to seek a clear and prompt termination of any nuclear testing by North Korea, Granoff commented. They would also have to grapple with how North Korea’s willingness to make such a commitment would change its standing in the international community, he said.

"Will North Korea rejoin the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)? Will it do so as a nuclear power or a non-nuclear power?" he asked.

On Friday, a Rasmussen poll revealed that in the wake of the Kim-Trump summit US voters are actually more skeptical that North Korea will denuclearize.

The views and opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.