U.S. President Donald Trump just kicked off his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Pessimism around Trump’s meeting with Kim is not new. In fact, the Joint Declaration issued by the two leaders following their first summit in Singapore was heavily criticized as being too aspirational for positive U.S.-North Korea relations without having any concrete details. Since then, skeptics have pointed out that while the United States has undertaken some tension reduction measures, including cancelling large-scale U.S.-ROK joint military exercises, North Korea has not done anything since the Declaration to move toward denuclearization. If anything, critics have argued, the North Korean government repeatedly expressed its determination not to renounce its existing nuclear weapons and capability.

This article was originally published by The Diplomat on February 27, 2019. Read the full article here.