Trump-Kim meeting: What role should China play?

IT is remarkable that in the short space of three months, the political situation on the Korean Peninsula has moved from the edge of war into an unwonted atmosphere of hope.

The mastermind behind the entire show, from the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics to the coming meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, was the North Korean leader himself.

It was Mr Kim who sought North Korean participation in the Olympics, he who invited South Korean leader Moon Jae In to Pyongyang, and he who told Mr Moon's visiting delegation of his interest in meeting the American leader and his willingness to discuss denuclearisation, suspend weapons testing and accept the resumption of joint US-South Korean military exercises in April.