The joint statement signed after the historic U.S.-North Korea summit on June 12 appears to be a half-baked document lacking any kind of substance. Although working talks between the two nations extended well into the night of the day before the summit, a grand, all-encompassing resolution of the century failed to materialize. Very likely, the rush to hold the summit — which came just three months after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled his willingness to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — ruled out the possibility of any substantive breakthrough.
The wording of the agreement on the primary focus of denuclearization was limited to "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," stopping short of the "complete, verifiable and irreversible" denuclearization (CVID) the U.S. was seeking.
Even so, Trump announced his intention to halt joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea. While this looks as though North Korea won a concession from the U.S. side, the actual benefit to the North Koreans is debatable. If the North does not work seriously toward denuclearization, nothing will change in a structural sense, since diplomatic ties with the U.S. will not be normalized nor will any sanctions be lifted. Moreover, without a specific agreement on a time schedule, the U.S. side also has room for interpretation. This is hardly ideal for North Korea either.