NEITHER AN AGREEMENT nor a joint statement was announced after the second meeting of Kim Jong Un, leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea), and US President Donald Trump during the last week of February in Vietnam. The objective of the said meeting was to rediscuss the denuclearization of the DPRK, an agreement forged during the first meeting between the two in Singapore last year. This was first agreed upon by the DPRK and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) as an initial measure for the reunification of the two Koreas. The DPRK refused to immediately dismantle its nuclear facilities when the US failed to revoke the economic sanctions it imposed against the former. The sanction restricts a number of countries to trade with the DPRK. This constrains commerce in the DPRK and compels it to rely on trade with China and other independent countries.

It is clear that the DPRK that will not drop its capacity to manufacture and use nuclear weapons without a serious concession from the US. Its nuclear arsenal is consideres as one of the most powerful weapons against direct US agggression and intervention, and its aggression through South Korea wherein US troops and nuclear arms are stationed. Among the demands of the DPRK to the US are the forging of a peace treaty between North and South Korea, the immediate end of economic sanctions and war games being conducted in its borders and seas, and the reduction in the number of US troops stationed in South Korea. At present, about 28,500 US troops are stationed along the boundary of the DPRK and South Korea.

Since the first meeting, the DPRK suspended its missile and nuclear testings. Contrarily, the US has just started to temporarily suspend its war games with the army of South Korea. At present, its nuclear-capable submarines, warships and aircrafts which it may use against the DPRK are still stationed in Asia.