Trump and Kim's second meeting: who wants what?
The North Korean ruler and the US president are meeting for the second time this Wednesday in Hanoi. On Twitter Donald Trump spoke of his "friend" Kim Jong-un and predicted that North Korea will experience an economic upturn. Commentators see both protagonists under pressure to get results at their meeting.
Kim's main concern is the sanctions
North Korea's leader is hoping the summit will bring about an economic détente, Corriere della Sera believes:
“Kim's main goal, apart from guarantees for himself and his regime (he wants to avoid ending up like Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein), is the end of economic sanctions. Until now Trump has insisted on keeping them on the grounds that it's precisely the tough effect of the sanctions that has got the dictator to the negotiating table in the first place. He wants to see concrete steps in disarmament. In the meantime he could allow his South Korean allies to start supporting the North economically.”
Honeymoon is hard work!
Trump is under pressure to produce tangible results at the summit, Radio Kommersant FM believes:
“Sooner or later not only the democratic Senators but also Trump's party friends will want to see concrete results from the protracted honeymoon between the US president and the Korean communist leader. Something tangible, for example a list of locations where plutonium is produced or where uranium is enriched. But so far there's been no sign of any such lists. What's more, not a single missile has been destroyed. Trump has to make the Hanoi summit look like a success. Otherwise his party friends won't go along with him - to say nothing of his rivals.”
Other dictators could smell blood
Trump's lavishing so much attention on Kim Jong-un could have disastrous consequences, Helsingin Sanomat fears:
“North Korea's hitherto very successful pokering also has global repercussions. Other autocrats in charge of one ramshackle country or another could follow the example of the Kim dynasty and try to get hold of nuclear arms. This is all the more dangerous given that the traditional nuclear powers are now in the process of withdrawing from arduously negotiated nuclear agreements and at the same time threatening to use nuclear weapons.”