The American foreign policy establishment may deride the meeting as substance-free theater—but once again they would be wrong.
The table is set. The translators are ready. After a day of taking selfies and touring Singapore’s trendiest hot spots, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is ready to shake the hand of a sitting American president for the first time.
President Donald Trump is clearly basking in all of the glory that this historical summit has to offer. But those who may be anticipating a grand bargain between Washington and Pyongyang that closes the North Korea nuclear file for good shouldn’t put the cart before the horse.
Reports describing difficult pre-summit negotiations at the working level about the contents of a joint communique—even on the most basic question, like what the term « denuclearization » actually means—offer evidence that the result of the Trump-Kim meeting will be modest.
