US-North Korea summit location is still up in the air, but it will be determined by down-to-earth factors

On April 27, the leaders of North and South Korea are scheduled to hold their first summit in a decade during which inter-Korean relations have steadily deteriorated as the North Korean nuclear crisis escalated. 

The two Koreas have gone down this road before at the June 2000 and follow-on 2007 Pyongyang summits, long on symbolism but short on substance and ultimately negated by successive conservative South Korean administrations. They have much to catch up on: a lost decade has seen the closing of the Mount Kumgang recreation and visitation venue for families divided by the Korean war, the Keaesong economic zone which functioned as a quasi-permanent economic bridge between North and South, as well as ambitious plans for a West Sea Peace Zone to promote the exploitation of marine resources, among other projects. 

And while a broad range of issues, including enhancing political and economic relations, cultural exchanges and tension-reduction measures, tops the list, everything depends on the Trump-Kim summit a month later which can be reduced to one word – “denuclearisation” – to which the two sides do not attach the same meaning.