A projection emerged that if U.S. President Donald Trump holds talks with North Korea's State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un, the negotiations could put on the table the tacit acceptance of North Korea's nuclear weapons program, an end-of-war agreement, and even a halt to U.S.-South Korea joint exercises.
Anthony Ruggiero, who served as the White House National Security Council (NSC) North Korea Director during Trump's first administration, said in an op-ed in The Hill on the 27th (local time) that "talks with Kim Jong-un are highly likely to include at a minimum the tacit acceptance of North Korea's nuclear weapons program."
The former director said Trump could propose a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War, improvements in political and economic relations, and the permanent suspension of U.S.-South Korea joint exercises, and could even facilitate inter-Korean dialogue. However, he advised that verifiable limits on North Korea's long-range ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs, the withdrawal of Russian deployment and an end to military support must be included in any agreement.
He also predicted there is a chance Trump could stage a symbolic scene of signing an agreement with the chairman in North Korea or a neutral zone. As a way to secure leverage, he proposed sanctions on North Korean nationals in China and on Chinese banks and individuals that help Pyongyang evade sanctions, saying the measure would be similar in scale to existing pressure targeting small Chinese refineries that process Iranian crude and would not provoke Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The former director warned that "many see North Korea as a backward hermit kingdom, but Pyongyang has negotiated with the United States for more than 30 years and has generally gotten what it wanted," indicating talks will not be easy. Even so, he assessed Trump's approach to North Korea as "pursuing achievable objectives, unlike previous administrations that repeated the same negotiating strategy while expecting different results."
The former director served as the NSC's North Korea Director during the first U.S.-North Korea summits in 2018–2019 under President Trump.