Expert says the world is a safer place following Singapore Summit

  • 13/06/2018

An expert in international relations says the world is now a safer place following the Singapore Summit.

Otago University's Robert Patman told The AM Show the meeting was the first step in the process of denuclearisation, although the results didn't live up to the hype.

"There's something [of a] mismatch between the very hyped rhetoric that President Trump has presented the meeting in," he said.

"He spoke in terms of excellent relations between the two governments, major breakthrough, but actually when you look at the document that's been produced it doesn't really live up to that rhetoric.

"In fact the aim of verifiable nuclear disamament is not contained in that document."

On the other hand Kim Jong-un got a big win from Mr Trump in the agreement for the US to stop running military exercises with South Korea.

Newshub presenter Tom McRae got a similar impression from watching the summit as it happened in Singapore, saying on the day Mr Kim was the winner.

"A lot of experts are saying the US didn't get very much out of this at all apart from a great photo op for Donald Trump and especially Kim Jong-un," he told the AM Show.

"It was the very first time the US flag has been seen alongside the North Korean flag, which before now hadn't even been, I guess, identified as a real country by the Americans."

Both Dr Patman and McRae agreed the world was safer after the summit, with Dr Patman saying it was the start of a long process.

McRae however said one of the big changes was a softening of the online sparring between Mr Trump and Mr Kim.

"Well we are safer because they're not screaming insults at each other across their social media channels," he said.

"For that alone we are a hell of a lot safer than we were probably this time only six to nine months ago."

Newshub.