Anwita Basu, an analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit (The EIU), released a comment from The EIU concerning the historic summit entwine the leaders of the United States and North Korea, which was held in Singapore earlier today, June 12, to the effect that North Korea may very well emerge as the big winner resulting from the summit.
Ms. Basu first pointed out that the statement released after the summit was couched in vague phrases, though it did contain seemingly appropriate wording. She cited the examples such as “commitment to complete denuclearization,” “security guarantees,” and “stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula”.
More importantly, she pointed out the lack of specific comment on the lifting of sanctions that have been imposed, as well as a timeline of dates for the the announced denuclearization to occur.
The statement from the EIU goes on to say that the agreements between North Korean diplomats and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the weeks leading up to the summit were merely repeated, indicating that Messrs. Kim and Trump stuck to agreed-upon messages, and that they are eager to continue to alleviate the conflict in the region.
However, the EIU surmises that it’s possible that the the lack of clarity regarding a “verifiable and irreversible denuclearization” may show that the US and North Korea do not have the same perspectives concerning denuclearization. The EIU also believes that North Korea, in private, has not actually consented to take apart their nuclear arsenal, but only to decelerate its building up as a trade-off for further discussion.
Therefore, the EIU sees the US-North Korea Summit as a success for the DPRK, since this is exactly what they have wanted for a long time, recognition as a legitimate nation whilst remaining in isolation. The EIU further believes that edited portions of the summit will be shown on programs on state media for the months and years to come.
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) is based in the United Kingdom and terms itself as “the research and analysis division of The Economist Group and the world leader in global business intelligence.” It is responsible for forecasting and advisory services through research and analysis, through country and industry reports. In Asia, the EIU has offices in China and Hong Kong.