US President Donald Trump will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un for the second time this week as denuclearisation talks continue.
At the heart of the talks is coming up with a common understanding of the term 'denuclearisation' amid concerns of a lack of progress since the first summit. It's an issue that has plagued talks for decades
From Washington Harry Horton reports.
IN: "In this sequel..."
OUT: SOC
DUR: 3"01
In this sequel summit, the pressure is on to show signs of progress.
President Trump predicts it will be a "tremendous success", but in recent weeks he's been playing down expectations.
<<TAKE SOT: DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT>>
"As long as there's no testing, I'm in no rush. If there's testing, that's another deal."
<<TAKE SOT: DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT>>
"I'm not in a rush I don't want to rush anybody I just don't want testing"
Jung Pak was the US National Intelligence Council's top Korea analyst under President Obama:
<<TAKE SOT: JUNG PAK, US, 2014-2016>>
"He's downplaying whatever outcomes he might be able to get, saying that as long as there's no testing, no nuclear weapons, that's good for him but he's been saying that for months. The problem with that is that he's already setting a very low bar on what he can get from the North Koreans."
US intelligence leaders are sceptical North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons....
<<TAKE SOT: DAN COATS, US NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE CHIEF>>
"We currently assess that North Korea will seek to retain its WMD capabilities…"
...Critics say that's because last year's Trump-Kim summit produced a vague agreement with no timeline.
Bob Gallucci was the lead US negotiator with North Korea in the 90s.
<<TAKE SOT: PROFESSOR ROBERT GALLUCCI, FORMER US-NORTH KOREA NEGOTIATOR>>
"The North Koreans present the threat today - maybe a little bit enhanced, not reduced - from a year ago. The likelihood of war has been reduced by the change in the rhetoric of the chairman and the president but they did that, and they can do that instantaneously. They could pump up the rhetoric again. These are not material changes. And they're not changes in the vulnerability of the United States. If you didn't sleep well in 2017, I'm not sure you should sleep well in 2019."
Stephen Biegun, the Trump administration's designated North Korea negotiator, has been tasked with agreeing a shared understanding of the term DENUCLEARISATION - a challenge that has plagued negotiators for decades.
<<TAKE SOT: PROFESSOR ROBERT GALLUCCI, FORMER US-NORTH KOREA NEGOTIATOR>>
"Are they talking about all facilities that relate to nuclear weapons? Do they want to hold back some? Are they talking about giving up existing nuclear weapons? Are they talking about giving up fissile material, stocks of plutonium and highly enriched uranium? I think the answers to those questions are not definitively known. And then of course there is the big unknown question of what they want in exchange?"
When Kim Jong Un takes his train back to Pyongyang, he might hope to have secured a peace deal with the US, formally ending the Korean war.
But ending a decades-old conflict might not reduce the threat of a new one. Here's Jung Pak
<<TAKE SOT: JUNG PAK, US National Intelligence Council, 2014-2016>>
"You can imagine how a dramatic statement like that would suck all the oxygen out the room so that if there isn't very significant movement on the nuclear issue the Trump administration can point to the peace declaration as progress whereas the real goal is getting North Korea to commit to abandoning its nuclear weapons."
President Trump is already talking about a third summit with Kim Jong-Un - convinced his pen-pal relationship with the North Korean dictator will produce the historic results he craves.
SOC