If U.S.-Russia relations are improved to an extent by this meeting, so much the better, but the obvious focus must be on the difficult Kim-Trump meeting and its results. Some will object that Kim will be all too comfortable in Vladivostok, surrounded by Russian “friends.” It would be better, contrarians will insist, to throw Kim off his game in an unfamiliar and less congenial environment. They might suggest, for example, Guam, where Kim could be shown many examples of American military might. However, that would be an incredibly foolish gambit. Given the enormous stakes and the vast asymmetry in power between the two negotiating sides, the United States should actually want Kim to be maximally comfortable, relaxed, organized and thoughtful. A Kim that is stressed, nervous and impulsive may reach an agreement only to rethink it shortly thereafter, which would be a disaster for all concerned. Thus, in such a starkly asymmetric situation, it makes sense to pursue a venue that is quite purposefully convenient and comfortable for the side of the negotiation that is at a power disadvantage. This will ease the process of making genuinely hard decisions that can stick—and the host country will have an obligation, at least a moral one, to facilitate their implementation. Moreover, Russia’s proximity to North Korea in the vicinity of Vladivostok will remind all concerned that potent external powers, including not just Russia but critically also China, have very significant security assurances to offer Pyongyang to ease the “security dilemma” during the sensitive and gradual process of denuclearization.

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Lyle Goldstein is a professor at the U.S. Naval War College.

Artyom Lukin is a professor and deputy director for research of the School of Regional and International Studies at the Far Eastern Federal University (Vladivostok, Russia).

Georgy Toloraya is the director of the Asian Strategy Center, Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences​.

These comment are the authors’ personal assessments and do not represent official positions/proposals.