Let's get an expert's perspective on the summit and the declaration signed by North Korean
leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump.
I'm pleased to say we have Dr. David Kang, Director of the Korean Studies Institute at
the University of Southern California, joining us from the West Coast of the U.S. via Skype.
Dr. Kang,... it's the morning after the day before here in Korea,...
President Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in are naturally delighted with the
latest developments.
I'd like to start with your overall assessment of the summit and the declaration signed by
the leaders.
The U.S. and
North Korea will now start the process of denuclearizing the regime.
President Trump is also forming a relationship with the North Koreans -- that's got to concern
the Chinese, especially.
Outwardly, Beijing has welcomed the outcome of the summit, but behind closed doors -- do
you think it's a different story?
I was reading your post-summit Twitter feed during my research for our chat.
You said there was a lot of whining going on-- I presume you were talking about some
of the media-slash-Twitter reaction.
Lots of Trump's critics jumped on this declaration, saying it lacks concrete commitments, Trump
gave too much away, didn't sufficiently address human rights, etc.
The crushing sanctions, however, remain in place.
Outside of those who are just clearly anti-Trump on everything, would you like to expand on
how you think certain people are being too critical....
One of the major concessions President Trump is being accused of giving away is stopping
the joint annual military exercises with Seoul.
There's some confusion about whether he consulted with South Korea on this, but there are some
reports that suggest he didn't.
Everyone knows Trump is unconventional, but surely this was given the green light by President
Moon....
I don't want to focus too much on negative things...
considering that we are hopefully moving in the right direction, but President Trump also
came under fire for his personal praise of Kim Jong-un, a dictator of a country with
a terrible record on human rights, what are your thoughts about that and should Trump
have pushed this issue harder at his first meeting with Kim?
Before I let you go, the diplomacy continues...
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be arriving here later today.
How do you see this unfolding over the weeks and months to come... and will we see either
Trump heading to Pyongyang... or Kim going the other way... before too long?
Ok, Dr. Kang, great insights as always.
We appreciate you making time in your schedule and let's hope this is the start of a brighter
future.
Thank you.