Scott Snyder, a senior fellow for Korea Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations / Korea Times file

Another summit between the United States and North Korea is unlikely even in the event of the reelection of former U.S. President Donald Trump, who has held rare meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, a U.S. expert said Thursday.

Scott Snyder, a senior fellow for Korea Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, made the remarks at a forum organized by the Sejong Institute in Seoul amid views that Trump's possible win in the upcoming U.S. presidential race could reshape Washington's North Korea strategy.

"North Korea have finally changed their focus away from thinking that they can make a deal with any individual American president, and so they're going in a different direction," Snyder said on the possibility of another Trump-Kim meeting following those in Singapore and Hanoi in 2018-19.

The U.S. expert also noted how circumstances have changed in South Korea, compared with when the summits took place during the liberal government of Moon Jae-in, saying the administration of Yoon Suk Yeol is unlikely to facilitate Trump's efforts to directly engage with Kim.

While unveiling an "audacious" initiative to help the impoverished North improve its economy in return for denuclearization steps, the Yoon administration has made it clear it will respond to North Korea's provocations based on principle.

Snyder also expected that the North Korea issue may take a back seat in the event of Trump's reelection, noting that policy focus on Washington's intensifying rivalry with China will likely grow.

On the economic front, the U.S. expert said Trump's potential reelection could be a "particular challenge" to South Korean companies that have made investments in clean energy as the former president puts higher priority on producing a broad array of energy over renewable energies and attaining climate change goals.

Still, Snyder said opportunities also lie ahead as Seoul has emerged as Washington's "technology partner." In particular, he said South Korean shipbuilders may benefit from efforts to revitalize the U.S. defense industry and shore up its naval capability.

Snyder expressed skepticism over South Korea going nuclear, saying such a move would entail heavy costs as long as the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons (NPT) is in force.

"As long as the NPT is in force, I personally think that it's not in South Korea's interest to be the straw that breaks the camel's back," he said, while noting that South Korea may have to develop self-defense capabilities, including nuclear, if circumstances change. (Yonhap)

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