Trump-Kim meeting: Democrats hit out at 'reality TV handshake' amid concerns over lack of specific promises from North Korea
Mr Trump says he trusts Mr Kim and that he believes the North Korean leader is sincere about his desire for denuclearisation
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump appears to have made a major concession to North Korea following his joint agreement with Kim Jong-un, ending joint military exercises with South Korea that he deemed “provocative” and “tremendously expensive”.
He said he also hoped to “bring home” the 32,000 US troops stationed in South Korea at some point in the future, but acknowledged such a move was not “part of the equation right now”.
In a press conference lasting more than an hour Mr Trump also said the North had begun dismantling a major missile engine testing site, and he praised Mr Kim as “very talented”.
Later, as Mr Trump's plane landed in Guam to refuel, Mr Trump told reporters that he trusted Mr Kim and that he believed the North Korean leader was sincere about his desire for denuclearisation.
“I can only tell you that from the time I’ve (dealt) with him, which is really starting 90 days ago," Mr Trump said. "I think he wants to get it done".
Please allow a moment for the live blog to load
At the end of the summitMr Trump and Mr Kim signed what Mr Trump claimed was a “comprehensive” document following the historic meeting aimed at the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. The president said he believed the process of denuclearisation would happen “very, very quickly”, adding that he had formed a “special bond” with Mr Kim.
Mr Kim who has been granted a measure of international legitimacy with the summit, said the two leaders had “decided to leave the past behind. The world will see a major change”.
In the first meeting of a sitting US president and a North Korean leader, the pair convened at a luxury resort on Singapore’s Sentosa Island, clasping hands as they stood on a red carpet in front of a backdrop of alternating US and North Korean flags. Mr Trump was first to arrive at the summit site, followed by Mr Kim, both readying for the 9am meeting that culminated dizzying weeks of negotiations over logistics and policy.
The pair started the momentous Singapore summit with an historic handshake for the world’s media before getting down to talks about North Korea’s nuclear programme.
Mr Trump and Mr Kim met one on one for about 40 minutes, joined only by translators. Then aides to each arrived for more discussions and a working lunch.
The US president said the meetings went “better than anybody could have expected” after the pair emerged from lunch and strolled together down a paved walkway before stopping and posing before the waiting news media.
Mr Trump said the meeting is “going great. We had a really fantastic meeting”. He added that there has been “a lot of progress. Really very positive”
It is believed that the signing will likely revolve around a promise to keep meeting.
The White House said discussions with North Korea have moved “more quickly than expected” and Mr Trump would leave Singapore on Tuesday night, after the summit. He had earlier been scheduled to leave on Wednesday. Mr Trump will visit military bases in Guam and Hawaii on his way back to Washington.
Teams of officials from both sides held working-level talks on Monday.
Senior officials travelling with Mr Trump included secretary of state Mike Pompeo, national security adviser John Bolton and White House chief of staff John Kelly. As Mr Trump was travelling to the Capella Hotel which was the site of the summit, he surprisingly tweeted about another senior official - economic adviser Larry Kudlow - with Mr Trump saying he had had a heart attack. The White House later said that Mr Kudlow was in a good condition in hospital having suffered a “very mild” heart attack.
Mr Kim’s delegation consisted of foreign minister Ri Yong Ho, defence minister No Kwang Chol and Kim Yong Chol, a close aide of Kim who has been instrumental in the diplomacy that culminated in Tuesday’s summit.
Kim Yo Jong, leader Kim’s younger sister, was also spotted in his delegation. She emerged as an influential figure in Pyongyang’s opaque leadership in February, when she led a North Korean delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea.
When Mr Trump initially agreed to meet with the North Korean leader, the US president spoke of his hope that their encounter could secure a major breakthrough and lead to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
If so, then the meeting would be the most important since Ronald Reagan met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Geneva in November 1985.
Mr Trump has since sought to play down expectations, saying that the meeting will be an important first step, but that securing a deal will likely take many more meetings.
Given that what the US wants to get out of the summit, a rapid denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, may be different to what North Korea wants, there may be many such meetings. Many observers will be looking to see whether Mr Trump does extend an invitation to his counterpart to visit the White House.
Mr Trump says he expects to hold another summit to keep the process of denuclearisation going.
But he adds: "I really believe that it's going to go fast."
Mr Trump says the US' intelligence insight into North Korea is "probably less there than in any other country".
Mr Trump was asked whether this agreement betrayed North Koreans being held in gulags, and he said they were "great winners".
He said: "Not much I can do right now. I think at a certain point he's going to do something about it.
"I think they are one of the great winners today - that large group of people that you're talking about. I think ultimately they are going to be one of the great winners as a group."
Speaking about possible future developments inside North Korea, Mr Trump says: "They have great beaches. You see that whenever they're exploding their cannons into the ocean, right?
"I said, 'Boy, look at that beach, wouldn't that make a great condo?'
"And I explained, I said, 'Instead of doing that, you could have the best hotels in the world.'
"Think of it from a real estate perspective. You have South Korea, you have China, and they own the land in the middle. How mad is that, right? It's great."
The video shown to journalists before the press conference was one given to Mr Kim to demonstrate how the development of North Korea could proceed following denuclearisation and subsequent economic investment, Mr Trump said.
Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has welcomed the joint statement signed by Mr Trump and Mr Kim as a first step in the denuclearisation of North Korea.
"We see this as a step in a comprehensive resolution," Mr Abe said in Tokyo after he spoke by phone with Mr Trump.
Japan wants North Korea to agree to a complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation. In the joint statement Mr Kim committed Pyongyang "to work towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula".
Mr Abe added that he "would like to thank the president for raising the abduction issue," referring to Japan's demand that the North release any remaining Japanese people it abducted to train its spies.
The press conference has concluded.
Applause could be heard on the live feed but it was unclear who was clapping - none of the journalists in shot appeared to have been doing so.
South Korea's president Moon Jae-in has made a statement following the summit.
He congratulated Mr Trump and Mr Kim and praised their "courage and determination".
Mr Kim will be "remembered as a leader who made a historic moment by taking the first bold step toward the world" for North Korea.
The peninsula will "take a new path", Mr Moon said. "Leaving dark days of war and conflict behind, we will write a new chapter of peace and cooperation."
But he added: "Seventy years of division and hostility, however, have cast a dark shadow that makes it difficult to believe what is actually taking place before our very eyes."
Regarding that apparent major concession on "ending the war games" that Mr Trump announced during his press conference, the US forces in South Korea said they had not received any direction to halt joint military exercises.
"[We have] received no updated guidance on execution or cessation of training exercises, to include this fall's scheduled Ulchi Freedom Guardian," US Forces in Korea Lieutetant Colonel Jennifer Lovett said in a statement.
"In coordination with our Republic of Korea partners, we will continue with our current military posture until we receive updated guidance from the Department of Defense and/or Indo-Pacific Command."
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