Experts' view on the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit Pyeongyang

Ahead of the Pyeongyang summit, many North Korea experts have also gathered at the main press center in Seoul.
Their discussions centered around the possible outcome... that the third meeting between the two leaders could produce.
Our Cha Sang-mi takes us to the M-P-C.
At a panel discussion hosted Monday by Arirang News, experts weighed in on the topics that might come up at the Pyeongyang summit -- ranging from a written promise by North Korea to destroy some of its weapons... to complete denuclearization to the lifting of U.S.-led sanctions on the regime.

"There are two kinds of concession I call shocking: number one is complete declaration and report of nuclear program lists. (cut) It's not gonna be easy for him to report, but if he did, it is a shocking concession. Another one is (cut) partial destruction of weapons or missiles."

Each expert had different ideas about the summit's outcome, but they agreed that the UN sanctions might be the stumbling block for improving ties and especially for economic cooperation between South and North Korea.
That's because the sanctions make it impossible for the Korean leaders to follow through on things they might put on paper.
The experts also discussed what the next steps might be, suggesting there might be another summit between Kim Jong-un and President Trump.
Yet when asked about what the latest inter-Korean summit means for the U.S., and the Trump Administration in particular, defense expert Harry Kazianis said that the bigger threat for the U.S. right now is its dispute with Beijing.

"China is the much bigger threat, in fact, to be very honest with you, if North Korea did not have nuclear weapons, I do not think the United States would be as concerned about North Korean issue... So I think we have to look at it the whole situation for the trump administration for its Asia policies in China lens."

He mentioned that President Trump is more engaged with domestic politics at the moment, so he might try to leverage a second Kim-Trump summit for the midterm elections in November.
But a Korean expert doesn't think Kim Jong-un will go for that.

"My personal opinion is that it is not easy for Kim Jong-un to listen to what Trump says, which means that I don't think it's easy for Kim Jong-un to begin with you know.. declaring what he says. Because he cannot trust Trump."

"The experts ended their talks with their best wishes for the Pyeongyang summit. They called on President Moon to be a guarantor this time, not just a mediator, to get some concrete results on denuclearization, and to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula.
Cha Sang-mi, Arirang News."