A strategically significant move in intricate power play in North-east Asia

THE meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may have been a bit of political theatre by the former reality TV personality to indulge his domestic political base. Even so, it was a strategically significant one.

Admittedly, there was an element of stage management in the event: the meeting was supposedly arranged at the last minute with a message on social media; they shook hands across the demarcation line between the Koreas before Mr Trump briefly crossed into North Korea, a symbolic gesture not lost on anyone; and then Mr Kim crossed over to the South Korean side and ended up talking for almost an hour with the US leader. And for a brief moment, the two were joined by South Korea's President Moon Jae-in, an unprecedented three-way gathering. If this was all histrionics, then it could well be argued that most political meetings are also displays of bonhomie for TV cameras.

The problem arises with the underlying binary assumption: a meeting between the two leaders should either end with Pyongyang's capitulation or be dismissed as a photo opportunity. That ignores the reality of the Korean conundrum. A better understanding of the event would be to see the meeting in the context of both the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Pyongyang last month and the failed Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi early this year.