| Summary: | The Singapore summit meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un committed the DPRK to complete denuclearization. In return, the United States pledged to satisfy key elements of the DPRK’s longstanding aim: an end to US enmity. Denuclearization is unlikely without political and economic normalization, a formal peace treaty to end the Korean War, regional security arrangements, and, ultimately, a US–DPRK alliance long sought by Pyongyang. If implemented, those actions could have profound consequences for the balance of power in Northeast Asia. Such a radical shift could raise concern in Japan, South Korea, China and Russia. To ease their concern, a multilateral solution might be preferable. A nuclear weapons-free zone (NWFZ) could potentially serve as an alternative form of security partnership. A NWFZ could offer an effective substitute for outright alliance by providing the DPRK, once it is certified as nuclear weapons-free, with a guarantee that the United States will not make it the subject of nuclear threat or attack and will defend it against attacks by another nuclear weapons state or ally of such a state.
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