Washington's acknowledgment this week that Pyongyang is ready to discuss the "denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" may sound like a step toward ridding North Korea of its hard-won nuclear weapons, but experts and observers say such a move is extremely unlikely in the near-term and highlights a potentially dangerous perception gap between the two countries.
The United States on Sunday said that it had directly confirmed for the first time since a thaw in relations began that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is willing to discuss denuclearization during a highly anticipated summit with U.S. President Donald Trump set for sometime in the next two months.
What remains unclear, however, is whether the two sides, as well as South Korea and Japan, are on the same page in regards to what "denuclearizing the peninsula" would entail.
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