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# Terrible Twos? Taking Stock of U.S.-North Korea Relations Two Years after Singapore 

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Date and Time 

June 12, 2020 2 - 3:30 PM EDT 

Location 

Live Online 

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##### Featuring 

Featuring **Victor Cha**, Senior Adviser and Korea Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies; Vice Dean and Professor of Government, Georgetown University; **Suzanne DiMaggio**, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Chairman, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft; and **David Kang**, Director, Korean Studies Institute, University of Southern California; moderated by **Doug Bandow**, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute.

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un made history on June 12, 2018, when they met in Singapore for the first U.S.-North Korea leadership summit. This remarkable and controversial moment followed a year of increasingly hostile rhetoric and actions that risked bringing the two countries to blows. At the time, the Singapore summit provided a glimmer of hope for a new era of U.S.-North Korea diplomatic engagement, made all the more dramatic by the tumultuous year that preceded it.

The past two years have deflated hopes for the future. The next two U.S.-North Korea summits produced no real progress on denuclearization or more-modest nuclear risk reduction. After some initial gains in late 2018, inter-Korean diplomacy also deadlocked as Kim refused to acknowledge Moon Jae-in’s calls to work together on a peace regime. Late last year, Kim seemed to accept the fact that economic sanctions would not be lifted and signaled a shift toward prolonged struggle against the United States. He even hinted at a demonstration of a “new strategic weapon” in the near future.

But then 2020 happened. The first six months of this year saw numerous shocks and events that could have a significant impact on U.S.-North Korea relations. The COVID-19 pandemic, rumors of Kim’s failing health, and South Korean legislative elections are bound to affect nuclear diplomacy.

Please join a distinguished panel of experts as they discuss both the current state and future shape of nuclear diplomacy with North Korea on the second anniversary of the Singapore summit.

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