For US President Donald Trump, the matter is clear-cut.
He never tires of hailing his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a success: North Korea’s nuclear threat is over; there has been great progress.
But two months after their June 12 meeting in Singapore, the situation is by no means as positive as Trump portrays it.
The major breakthrough on the issue of dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear programme has so far failed to materialise.
Progress in the disarmament efforts has been sluggish.
The current atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula could turn for the worse, say observers.
Meanwhile, in the White House, not everyone is exuding as much optimism as Trump.
His national security adviser, John Bolton, has accused Pyongyang of not having taken any concrete steps towards denuclearisation.
Washington is sticking to the summit deal, even though North Korea has not done anything, he charged.
At their summit, Trump and Kim signed a declaration of intent in which the North Korean leader avowed his readiness for a
“comprehensive” atomic disarmament.
But no specific steps were listed.
After the summit, the Trump administration cancelled planned joint military manoeuvres with South Korea, a major concession to the North.
Trump says the fact that North Korea has not fired any missiles for months now is a sign of success.
It’s a view the South Korean government also shares, with the presidential office saying in a report a few days ago, “this year North Korea has undertaken neither a nuclear test nor a missile launching.”
The report, coming as representatives of the two Koreas met in Panmunjon yesterday, also said that the North had “undertaken the first steps to remove the risk of war on the Korean Peninsula at its roots by dismantling its nuclear testing and missile testing facilities.” (At yesterday’s meeting, officials from both sides reached an agreement on a September summit between the countries’ leaders in the North’s capital of Pyongyang).
More recently, US experts, pointing to satellite surveillance photos, indicated that North Korea was dismantling important parts of its missile engine testing facility in Sohae.
But, on the other hand, the weeks since the Trump-Kim meeting have yet to produce a detailed timetable for nuclear disarmament.
North Korea appears to trust that Trump will regard its dismantling of the nuclear and missile testing facilities as serious steps towards “complete denuclearisation,” according to Scott Snyder, an expert on North Korea.
In his blog for the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, Snyder noted that Kim had promised denuclearisation not only to Trump, but also to Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Moon Jae In.
And trust is necessary, Snyder noted, since the measures taken by North Korea had so far been carried out “without adequate external verification.”
From the South Korean and US standpoint, the issue is not just the removal of nuclear warheads and missiles, but also that North Korea should be permanently denied any basic foundation for producing nuclear-capable materials.
“Our position is that the UN sanctions [on Pyongyang] should be maintained and conscientiously carried out until we see concrete actions towards a complete denuclearisation,” said South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung Wha.
Is Kim playing for time, as many observers feel? 
Lars-Andre Richter, a representative of the German think tank Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung in Seoul, says “North Korea perhaps has never foreseen a unilateral disarmament...It could be that North Korea is already looking to the period after Trump.” The question then being, what if Trump gets re-elected in 2020?
Pyongyang’s leaders are intent on stimulating the country’s economy in cooperation with China and other countries.
Investments and foreign trade are meant to try to create a measure of prosperity in the isolated land.
For this, however, it needs to shake off the international sanctions.
That raises the China question.
Ever since Kim’s two visits with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Beijing has again been a major player.
The traditional friendship is “emitting new vitality” said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in early August while meeting his North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong Ho at an Asean forum in Singapore.
For Beijing, the immediate danger of war has been banished and the desired status quo re-established.
China hopes the US will consider “the legitimate security interests” of North Korea and meet Pyongyang “halfway,” Wang Yi said in remarks that demonstratively strengthened Pyongyang’s position.
But the US is accusing China now of secretly relaxing the sanctions: Not in a major way, but observers have witnessed more lorries crossing the border from China into North Korea.
Also, US satellite photos show apparent illegal transfers of oil on the high seas.
Furthermore, China’s willingness to co-operate with Trump has been damaged by the escalating trade conflict.
Xi is upset and no longer trusts Trump as the White House leader continues to tighten the screws with higher punitive tariffs.
That raises the question: Why should Xi help Trump out with North Korea? And, if he doesn’t, what will that mean for North Korea’s willingness to co-operate with Washington? - DPA