Trump's bellicosity secures diplomatic coup - for now

FOR the moment, at least, it appears to be a clear-cut victory - the biggest foreign policy win of his young administration. United States President Donald Trump has brought his arch-nemesis, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a.k.a "Little Rocket Man", to the table to negotiate away his nuclear arsenal.

Optimists declared a major breakthrough. Even pessimists acknowledged that Mr Trump's hard line against Pyongyang, after decades of less forceful US effort, played a significant role in moving one of the world's most vexing and threatening problems in a potentially positive direction.

But in the afterglow of the surprise announcement - hinted by Mr Trump in a teasing visit to the White House press room and soon confirmed by South Korea's national security adviser, standing in the West Wing driveway - questions were fast and furious.