The document has four key areas
- US and North Korea to establish new relations in accordance with the desire of peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity
- US and North Korea is to join efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula
- Reaffirming the 27 April Panmunjon Declaration, North Korea will commit to work towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula
- US and North Korea commit to recovering remains of the Korean War, including immediate repatriation of those already identified
Given what is written here in the document, especially the fact that the denuclearisation commitment is mainly a reference to the Panmunjon Declaration, it's not much for markets and risk assets to get excited about.
There isn't any set schedule either for the follow-up meetings nor does it go into any details on the scope of denuclearisation or what sort of security guarantees that Trump has offered to North Korea.
Yes, the document is an important first step for future relations between the two nations. But it's more symbolic more than anything else in my view. It's all pretty on paper, but the lack of details will stand out more and will give markets little to go on in the aftermath.
(h/t @ Justin Sink, White House reporter for Bloomberg)
Abe: Did you just toss all the things we talked about last week down the drain?
