Regional peace and security has hung by a thread for the better part of a year while Pyongyang fired off a succession of intercontinental ballistic missiles, some of which allegedly had the capacity to reach Australia and the U.S., and detonated nuclear explosions in underground testing.

The escalation in North Korea's offensive capacity, seen by many as a pre-emptive attempt to secure the rogue state's long term survival by elevating it to nuclear power status, prompted a war of words between the two leaders.

This included childish insults and threats to launch devastating attacks against each other's countries.

Neighbours and allies of both countries, including China, Japan and Australia, were all caught up in the resulting standoff.

The rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, dating back to the unresolved war fought from 1950 to 1953, contributed to the doomsday clock being advanced to just two minutes before midnight on January 25 this year.

The Korean War claimed an estimated 3.5 to four million lives and was one of the most fiercely contested wars of the 20th century.

The armistice, signed on July 27, 1953, never led to a lasting peace settlement. Korea is still divided into two separate states, North Korea and South Korea, along the 38th parallel.

It is widely feared any resumption of hostilities, even it did not involve an exchange of nuclear weapons, would result in millions of casualties in the first few hours of fighting.

The addition of nuclear weapons to the mix raises the stakes to an unimaginable level.

Given the potential for a global catastrophe there are few more pressing issues on the planet right now than bringing about a peaceful resolution of the tensions on the Korean peninsula.

This alone justifies Donald Trump's highly controversial decision to meet with the North Korean leader face-to-face. If this meeting goes ahead he will be the first American president to do so.

His predecessors, including Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama, always refused to take this step on the grounds it offers the North Korean regime a degree of legitimacy it has never had before.

The risk is the President, a real estate mogul, reality television star and the author of a book entitled "The Art of the Deal", may find himself out of his depth when the negotiations get serious.

Yes, Kim Jong-un is talking about being willing to talk about giving up his nuclear arsenal. Yes, he has even offered to suspend missile tests during any negotiations.

The trouble is we have heard similar commitments before. Kim is playing the long game with a view to having the international sanctions against his country wound back and obtaining a guarantee of national security from the U.S.

If Mr Trump is as clever as he says he is, he won't give anything away without asking for significant concessions upfront and on account.