ISDP Forum: After the Trump-Kim Summit – Assessing the Deal

The second summit to be held in Vietnam between President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un on February 27-28 caps a remarkable turnaround in U.S.-North Korea relations. But where some see a historical opportunity to make significant progress, others are more cautious in a conflict that has defied resolution for decades. What then is driving the change in relations? Can the two leaders add more substance to the largely symbolic document signed at the first summit in Singapore? What are the longer-term prospects for the peace and denuclearization process?  And how important is South Korea’s role?

In this ISDP Forum, Dr Sang Hyun Lee of the Sejong Institute, Seoul, and a Visting Fellow at ISDP, will give a keynote presentation outlining how we have arrived at this point and the prospects ahead. Dr Lee is currently the President of the Korea Nuclear Policy Society and was Director-General for Policy Planning, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) from May 2011 to April 2013.

After the presentation, Dr Lee will be joined in a panel discussion with Dr Niklas Swanström, Executive Director of ISDP, Maj Gen (ret.) Mats Engman, Distinguished Military Fellow at ISDP, and Dr Sangsoo Lee, Head of the ISDP Stockholm Korea Center. Dr Lars Vargö, Distinguished Fellow at ISDP will give welcome remarks and moderate the forum.