It’s impossible to know today whether Tuesday’s meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un will yield tangible and lasting benefits such as the elimination of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

But we prefer to see the two shaking hands — even the ultimate camera-ready handshake, as Tuesday’s surely was — rather than trading verbal taunts.

The level of skepticism among commentators in the U.S. was predictably high given the widespread antipathy for Trump.

Yet logic dictates that the president’s unorthodox approach to, well, pretty much every part of his job does not guarantee he will fail. International diplomacy is art rather than science, and there is no formula to analyze.

Still and all, it’s hard to imagine a successful outcome to the U.S-North Korea conflict that doesn’t start with something like Tuesday’s summit.

The president, as is his wont, touted the meeting as an immediate success, saying denuclearization would start “very, very soon.”

Significant progress is unlikely to happen rapidly. But you needn’t be a Trump acolyte to hope that Tuesday’s summit is a legitimate starting point.

From the Baker City Herald editorial board. The board consists of editor Jayson Jacoby and reporter Chris Collins.