Crucial support for change in peninsula situation

As Democratic People's Republic of Korea top leader Kim Jong-un and United States President Donald Trump prepare to meet in Hanoi on Wednesday and Thursday, it is worth reflecting on what has been achieved since Pyongyang and Seoul first broke the ice ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics in the Republic of Korea in February last year.

Even the most skeptical would have to admit that the whirlwind series of meetings after that initial thaw in relations - which included two meetings between Kim and President Xi Jinping, and culminated in the historic first meeting between the sitting leaders of the DPRK and US in Singapore in June - was really quite remarkable.

Despite any claims to the contrary, there has been a sea change in the Korean Peninsula situation over the past year.