US, North Korea Summit: Denuclearization Deal Has ‘A Very Good Chance’

U.S. president Donald Trump exuded optimism he’ll clinch a deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un when they meet in Vietnam to pick-up where they left-off after their failed first summit in Singapore in June 2018.

Sounding much like he did before his first summit with Kim, Trump said he sees a "good chance" of reaching a deal with Kim on the vexed stumbling block of “denuclearization,” which derailed their first summit. Conflicting definitions of denuclearization, and the lack of any progress in bringing this about, triggered the need for a second summit.

"The meeting is set," said Trump in a media interview. "He's looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to it."

Trump also claimed there is “a very good chance that we will make a deal.”

Trump thinks Kim wants an end to the international sanctions ravaging North Korea’s economy which should make Kim more eager to reach a deal this time. Trump played-up this hunch.

"He has a chance to have North Korea be a tremendous economic behemoth," said Trump. "He can't do that with nuclear weapons and he can't do that on the path they're on now."

"I like him. I get along with him great," added Trump. "We have a fantastic chemistry."

The second Trump-Kim summit is expected to take place at the end of this month. Washington will reveal the exact location of the summit expected to be in Vietnam, plus other details about the meeting, following Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.

Washington is trying to ensure the second summit doesn’t repeat the mistakes of the first, however. Stephen Biegun, the U.S. special envoy for North Korea, will meet with his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok Chol on Wednesday to craft “a set of concrete deliverables” for the second summit. Trump entered his first summit without a set of “concrete deliverables” and made up for it with bluster and grandiose statements about reaching a deal.

The first summit between Trump and Kim was widely criticized for its failure to attain any of the goals Trump said it would attain. It was widely seen as a propaganda victory for Kim, who has always wanted his country to be held in esteem as a nuclear power and his summit with Trump appeared to achieve just that.

The Singapore summit saw both leaders sign a vaguely worded joint statement about denuclearization, agree to security guarantees for North Korea, recover the remains of U.S. and South Korean soldiers killed during the Korean War and follow-up negotiations between high-level officials.

There has been no demonstrable progress in talks to attain denuclearization, the most substantive result of the summit. Progress has stalled with both sides disagreeing over the interpretation of the word.