The Blue House said that President Lee Jae Myung, in connection with the recent U.S.-China summit, told U.S. President Donald Trump that he “appreciated that they had constructive consultations on the Korean Peninsula issue,” but on the 18th assessments emerged that the summit has not produced meaningful progress in U.S.-North Korea or inter-Korean relations. North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong Un the previous day convened military commanders and ordered the strengthening of armed forces along the Military Demarcation Line bordering the South.

President Lee and President Trump spoke by phone the previous day and exchanged views on Korean Peninsula issues discussed at the U.S.-China summit. In a written briefing, Blue House senior spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said, “President Lee assessed that President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping had constructive consultations on the Korean Peninsula issue,” and added, “President Trump said that, based on close coordination between the South Korean and U.S. leaders, he would continue to play and contribute the necessary role for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.”

Initially, some in the government hoped that China would serve as a bridge at the U.S.-China summit and open a channel in U.S.-North Korea relations. Minister of Unification Jeong Dong-yeong said during a National Assembly interpellation on the 3rd of last month, “We are paying particular attention to the U.S.-China summit in that, if U.S.-North Korea dialogue opens, reconciliation and exchange and cooperation between the two Koreas could resume as an extension.”

However, the official readouts from both sides suggest there will be little change on the Korean Peninsula after the summit. In a fact sheet on the U.S.-China summit posted on its website on the 17th (local time), the White House said, “President Trump and President Xi reaffirmed their shared objective of denuclearizing North Korea.” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular press briefing that day, “We will push each party to face squarely the core and root causes of the Korean Peninsula issue, adhere to the general direction of a political resolution, and make constructive efforts to ease tensions and maintain regional peace and stability.”

Chairman Kim has repeatedly stated that he will not agree to talks premised on denuclearization, saying, for example, “If the United States casts off its delusional obsession with denuclearization and, based on recognition of reality, truly seeks peaceful coexistence, there is no reason we cannot stand face to face with the United States” (a speech to the Supreme People Assembly last September).

Oh Kyung-seop, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said, “President Trump continues to show willingness for dialogue with North Korea, but bilateral talks are difficult until there is a change in the positions of the United States and North Korea on denuclearization.” On the 15th (local time), aboard Air Force One returning from his China trip, President Trump said, “I maintain a very good relationship with Chairman Kim. However, he is very quiet at present.”

According to the Korean Central News Agency, the previous day Chairman Kim summoned division and brigade commanders from across the military to the Workers Party central headquarters and referred to “the party policy on territorial defense to strengthen first-line units guarding the southern border and to turn the border line into an impregnable fortress.” It was the first meeting of its kind convened for division- and brigade-level commanders. Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, said this “appears to reaffirm a determination to fix completely the relationship between the two states by visualizing it in the forward area with physical barriers and fortifications.”