Duyeon Kim, an adjunct senior fellow at the Washington DC-based Center for a New American Security, said the nuclear issue simply hasn’t “moved forward.”

However, insofar as Moon’s goal was to try to bridge the gap between North Korea and the US and keep relations between the two smooth, some believe that the South Korean president was successful. Andrei Lankov, a veteran North Korea watcher in Seoul, said that it was in South Korea’s interest to “create an impression that the North Koreans are willing to denuclearize even if this has no relation to reality,” as both sides are worried that the US could revert to its policy of “maximum pressure.”

Mintaro Oba, a former US diplomat with a focus on North Korean diplomacy, said that North Korea managed to show that it’s still “acting in good faith” with its latest commitments, while Seoul is using diplomacy to push the US to re-engage with Pyongyang as relations between the two countries have soured recently.

For his part, Donald Trump tweeted that he was “excited” at the outcome of the summit. Moon will visit the US on Sept. 25 to discuss the summit in North Korea with Trump. Only then may we know what the US president plans to do with the ball that Kim has so firmly planted in his court.

Nuclear weapons

Demilitarization

Economy

Culture

Family reunions

📬 Sign up for the Daily Brief

Our free, fast, and fun briefing on the global economy, delivered every weekday morning.