By Kim Bo-eun
It is unlikely that the leaders of China and South Korea will join a summit between the U.S. and North Korea, with President Donald Trump stating he would not be meeting his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this month.
Earlier, a media report said Trump and Xi could meet in Vietnam's resort city of Danang Feb. 27 and 28. Days later, the U.S. president announced his second summit with Kim would take place on the same dates, also in Vietnam.
Trump then told reporters at the White House, Thursday (local time), he would not meet with President Xi this month, but possibly later.
Expectations were that President Moon Jae-in could join the meeting with Xi and that both would then participate on the sidelines of Trump's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to declare an official end to the 1950-53 Korean War. The declaration has been considered one of the reciprocal steps that Washington could offer Pyongyang for its denuclearization measures.
Cheong Wa Dae had not ruled out the chance of Moon going to Vietnam given his continued efforts last year to push ahead with multilateral talks on achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula.
While it appears the four leaders will not meet this time, Trump and Kim could release a joint statement after their summit that would include a clause on initiating four-party talks for a peace treaty.
The North Korean leader stated the need for parties involved in the Korean War armistice to seek multilateral talks to change this into a peace regime.
“The U.S. might accept this, and the joint statement could include a clause stating the concerned countries will begin talks to establish a peace regime which would include declaring an end to the war,” Park Won-gon, a professor at Handong Global University said. But he added the process to begin negotiations on a peace regime will be time-consuming as much work has to be done.
Park said it was too late for the U.S. and North Korean leaders to declare an end to the Korean War at the summit. “They would need to draw up the declaration in the little time remaining.”
Kim Hyun-wook, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy said Washington may demand that Pyongyang make substantial and visible progress on nuclear disarmament before negotiations for a peace regime can begin.