The inter-Korean agreement was welcomed internationally and reactions were mostly positive.

But North Korea's threatening behaviour in recent months will make it hard for the West to trust the regime again.

Politics expert, Ian Bremmer, has also suggested the US may lose out because of the summit.



North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in concluded a very historic day by saying some very remarkable things. As well as the two heads of state wanting to end the official state of war between their respective countries, they have also promised to "denuclearise" the Korean peninsula.

Together with China and the US, the two leaders will implement the ceasefire that concluded the Korean War of 1950-1953 into a new peace treaty this year, it was said on Friday, at the conclusion of the first Korea summit in more than ten years.

Most reactions to the peace declaration have been positive

In an embrace with South Korean President Moon Jae In, North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un said, "North and South Korea are brethren who should not live apart." Moon added, "There is no going back." US President Donald Trump tweeted, "KOREAN WAR TO END". It appears some good has come of this "wild year" of nuclear and missile tests.

The agreement, at what was a highly symbolic meeting, was welcomed internationally and the reactions were mostly positive. Norbert Baas, former German ambassador to South Korea, told Business Insider that the agreements reached did indeed merit the title of historical. "Above all, the hope is to end hostility and involve the US and China through negotiations," he said. But there is a lot of work ahead of the two governments in Seoul and Pyongyang.

Many in the West still don't trust the North Korean regime. Baas also spoke with some reservation. "After all the threatening signals from North Korea in recent months, this will be a big challenge," he said. "It will now be incredibly important to trust the judgment of the South Korean president and to take his advice seriously."

Ian Bremmer, head of the political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, says the US will be a big loser in the Korean summit. Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

China could be a winner in the Korea summit

Even Ian Bremmer, president of the prestigious political risk consultancy, Eurasia Group, welcomed the rapprochement between the two Korean leaders. In an interview with Business Insider, Bremmer spoke of the "first major positive geopolitical development all year. The US would now find it even more difficult to credibly threaten North Korea with a preemptive strike when peace is breaking out across the peninsula — which was the precise purpose of the meeting, according to Bremmer.

In the end, it's the US that might come out as the big losers in inter-Korean agreement. "An accord could deprive the US of its existing relevance in the region," said Bremmer to Business Insider, resulting in "the peninsula tilting away from security and towards economics."

That would be a good development for North and South Korea, said Bremmer. However, according to the experts, a third party might be in with a chance of benefitting from this situation: China, the strongest economic power in the region and the biggest competitor of the Americans in the Pacific region.

With material from Reuters.