During the State of the Union address, President Trump announced that a second summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un would be held on February 27 and 28 in Vietnam. Stephen Biegun, the US American envoy handling negotiations with North Korea, is currently in the reclusive country finalizing the details.

Trump has been pressuring North Korea to dismantle their nuclear weapons program ever since he became president, and the upcoming summit marks a second chance for him to convince Kim Jong Un to do so. Talks between the United States and North Korea have been stalled for months, as negotiators for the two countries are unable to reach an agreeable solution to the threat posed to the Korean Peninsula and beyond by Kim Jong Un’s arsenal of ballistic missile and his nuclear program. According to US intelligence officials, North Korea has not been in compliance with agreements previously reached with the Trump administration.

The impasse in talks is over US sanctions on North Korea – the US wants North Korea to list all their nuclear capabilities before lifting sanctions; North Korea wants sanctions lifted before supplying the Americans with that information.

President Trump will attempt at the summit in Vietnam to persuade the dictator to relent on his demands and begin dismantling some of their weapons programs. Since the first summit held between Trump and Un last June in Singapore, the North Koreans have secretly advanced their weapons programs, even as talks between the nations continued.

If the summit is successful, it may mark a new period of peace and reconciliation across the region, with sanctions lifted from North Korea, and its economy opened to new opportunities with South Korea, Japan, and possibly the United States.

If, however, the summit does not go well, the already tense situation will likely devolve back to threats of nuclear war, as was the case before the two leaders original summit, when Trump threatened “fire and fury” upon the nation.

The upcoming second summit, if it is able to be finalized and does ultimately take place, will mark a pivotal moment in the history of the relationship between the United States and North Korea. The eyes of the world will be watching closely.