Kim Jong-un affirmed an ‘unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula’ in a sign document on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said Tuesday.
‘We’re prepared to start a new history, and we’re ready to write a new chapter between our two nations,’ he told a packed room of reporters at a press conference in Singapore.
Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program will come to an end, he predicted, noting that Kim had already left Singapore and was on his way home to begin implementing their joint vows.
‘I believe he’s going to live up to that document,’ Trump said, adding that ‘our eyes are wide open, but peace is always worth the effort, especially in this case.’
‘He wants to do that. This isn’t the past. This isn’t another administration that never got it started and therefore never got it done.’
‘We’re much further along than I would have thought,’ Trump declared.
At the same time, he agreed that there are no guarantees that Kim will tear apart what he called ‘a very substantial arsenal.’
‘Can you ensure anything?’ he asked ‘All I can say is: They want to make a deal. … Can anybody be certain? But we’re going to be certain soon because the negotiations continue.’
The president said he had been working around the clock helping to cement the terms of what he hopes will be an iron-clad agreement that Kim will honor. That would mark a change from North Korea’s past performance on pacts with the West.
‘I haven’t slept in 25 hours but I thought it was important to do,’ he said, animated as ever in gesture and vocal cadance.
Trump made no promises about relaxing the economic sanctions that have strangled the hermit kingdom for years, but said he was ‘actually looking forward to taking them off’ if Kim follows through on his commitments.
‘We’re prepared to start a new history, and we’re ready to write a new chapter between our two nations,’ President Donald Trump said at a press conference in Singapore, announcing the terms of a landmark nuclear disarmament agreement with North Korea
President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un concluded a day of talks in Singapore by signing what the president described as a ‘very comprehensive’ document
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been a key component of the Singapore summit, and is pictured waiting for Trump’s press conference to start after the summit with Kim Jong’un at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island
He speculated about exchanging ambassadors with North Korea ‘hopefully soon,’ but cautioned that ‘it’s a little bit early for that.’
And the president said he’s open to inviting Kim to the White House and visiting Pyongyang himself. ‘At a certain time, I will,’ he said.
He also projected that hostilities between the North and South ‘will soon end. The past does not have to define the future.’
‘Anyone can make war but only the most courageous can make peace. The current state of affairs cannot continue forever,’ Trump proclaimed.
Tuesday’s press conference began with the playing of a video, first in Korean and then in English, that Trump said his delegation showed Kim on an iPad to encourage him to choose the right path, ‘a version of what could happen, what could take place.
Trump said he spotted inviting-looking beaches in the footage, and said: ‘Look at that beach, wouldn’t that make a great condo? … Think of it from a real estate perspective!’
The president said the U.S. would soon end or scale back longstanding joint military exercises with South Korea, and agreed that they were ‘provocative’ toward the North. He characterized them as ‘very expensive,’ however, and portrayed their end as an economic decision rather than a negotiated concession.
The president said he had addressed human rights issues during the summit, but downplayed Kim’s brutal past.
‘I believe it’s a rough situation over there, and we did discuss it today pretty strongly … at pretty good length. We’ll be doing something on it.’
‘I think it will change. I think it probably will have to.’
Trump also predicted that among the ‘winners’ in the future will be the tens of thousands of people held in North Korea’s prison camps.
And he said Kim was ‘very gracious’ about the prospect of returning the remains of American soldiers buried in North Korea more than a half-century ago: ‘He said “It makes sense, let’s do it”.’
AFTER YOU: Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un arrive to sign a document to acknowledge the progress of the talks and pledge to keep momentum going, after their summit at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island
President Trump praised Kim as a ‘talented’ negotiator and said he ‘absolutely’ plans to invite him to the White House
It is understood that the document signed by both leaders will pledge to keep the momentum of peace talks going
The document says, in part: ‘President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the DPRK, and Chairman Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula’
Kim Jong-un rests his hand on Trump’s back as the pair walk away from the table where they signed the joint agreement
The president had promised ‘security guarantees’ for North Korea, as he met with Kim for the first time during a high-stakes Singapore summit.
Trump president hailed a newly forged ‘special bond’ with Kim following a day of historic talks, praised the dictator as a ‘skilled’ negotiator and said he would ‘absolutely’ invite him to the White House in the future.
Kim said it was time to ‘leave the past behind’ and embark on a new era of relations with America while promising that the world will see a ‘major change.’
The two men signed a joint statement at the Capella resort. The U.S. did not immediately release the document, but news photographers caught sight of the text when Trump flashed a copy to the press.
The agreement reaffirms an earlier declaration signed between North and South Korea, and commits the North to ‘work towards the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.’
Another point commits the U.S. and North Korea ‘to establish new U.S.-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.’
An additional point committed the nations to ‘join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.’
The U.S. president also affirmed he would ‘absolutely’ be willing to host Kim at the White House after their face-to-face conversations. telling a room full of journalists representing American and North Korean outlets: ‘This is going to lead to more and more and more and it’s an honor to be with you a very great honor.’
‘We’ll meet again. We’ll meet many times,’ he stated.
Trump earlier said as the summit commenced that it was ‘an honor’ to be with Kim and open a direct line of communication that he expects to blossom into ‘a terrific relationship’ with the longtime U.S. antagonist.
He told journalists later, after a working lunch, that he had a ‘really fantastic meeting’ with Kim that he believes was ‘really, very positive.’
‘I think, better than anybody could have expected, top of the line, really good. We’re going right now for a signing,’ he said.
Talks were apparently going so well Tuesday afternoon that Trump showed Kim his limo, opening a door so he could inspect the car that travels everywhere with the U.S. president and flies in the belly of Air Force One when he’s abroad.
President Donald Trump says ‘it’s an honor’ to be meeting with Kim Jong-un, whom he expects to have ‘a terrific relationship’ with now that they’ve been personally introduced
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un shake hands during an expanded bilateral meeting at the Capella Hotel. With Trump, and to his right, is White House chief of Staff John Kelly
Kim smiles to reporters while taking questions alongside Donald Trump after signing the joint agreement. Both men ignored questions over the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula
Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un part ways holding copies of the joint agreement they signed moments earlier
U.S. President Donald Trump walks with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un after lunch at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island
After the summit had ended, Trump assessed that Kim had a ‘great personality’ and is ‘very smart. Good combination.’
Kim, Trump said, is ‘a worthy negotiator … a very worthy, very smart negotiator. We had a terrific day and we learned a lot about each other and our countries.’
Trump and Kim began the summit with a hearty handshake, exchanging pleasantries for the cameras and meeting one-on-one for 38 minutes with only translators present while the world watched with anticipation as the first-ever meeting between a U.S. president and a North Korean leader unfolded.
Trump told reporters as he sat down for his initial meeting with Kim that he believed they were ‘going to have a great discussion’ that he believed would be a ‘tremendous success.’
‘It will be tremendously successful,’ he reiterated. ‘And it’s an honor, and we will have a terrific relationship, I have no doubt.’
Kim – whose voice is rarely if ever heard in the West – told the U.S. president through an interpreter, ‘Well, it was not easy to get here. The past worked as fetters on our limbs, and the old prejudices and practices worked as obstacles on our way forward. But we overcame all of them, and we are here today.’
‘That’s true,’ Trump said in agreement, shaking his counterpart’s hand and making what appeared to be joke that was audible to only the two men and their translators as reporters were led out out of the room.
Trump and Kim then held private talks with only their interpreters before walking together along a route that provided them with another opportunity to speak to press.
‘Very, very good. Excellent relationship,’ Trump told a tightly-restricted group of assembled journalists.
Donald Trump waves to reporters alongside Kim as the pair stand on a balcony at the Capella resort on Tuesday
A man watches a TV screen showing Trump meeting with Kim in Singapore during a news program in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Trump and Kim shared a hearty handshake, exchanged pleasantries for the cameras and met one-on-one for 38 minutes with only translators present while the world watched with anticipation as their summit unfolded
WARM RAPPORT: President Trump touched Kim several times throughout their first exchange, signaling to the dictator he wanted to build a relationship that can stand the test of time and not just the summit
Neither man smiled during the formal photo, taken on a red carpet in front of alternating American and North Korean flags
As they turned the corner to head into their first set of talks, however, in an area that Trump may have thought was off camera, the U.S. leader broke into a smile as he exchanged quiet words with Kim and another handshake that lasted several seconds
The pen which Kim used to sign the joint declaration, which featured Donald Trump’s signature in gold on the side
The leaders ignored questions from the U.S. media on denuclearization of the Koran Peninsula, the topic of the Singapore talks.
Moments later, Trump and Kim rejoined senior officials from both nations for a meeting that was supposed to get into the nitty-gritty of a possible nuclear disarmament deal.
‘Of course there will be challenges ahead, but I am ready to listen,’ Kim could be heard telling the U.S. president in the group setting, through a translator. ‘We overcame all kinds of skepticism and speculations about this summit, and I believe that this is good for the peace.’
Trump told him, ‘We will solve [this]. We will be successful. And I look forward to working on it with you. It will be done.’
A working lunch on Tuesday featured prawn cocktail with avocado salad, green mango kerabu with honey lime dressing and fresh octopus and ‘Oiseon’ Korean stuffed cucumber as starters.
For the main course, the leaders had the choice of beef short rib confit, sweet and sour crispy pork and Yangzhou fried rice with chili sauce or soy braised cod fish.
Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream with cherry coulis, Tropezienne and a dark chocolate tartlet ganache were listed on a White House handout as the dessert options.
‘Very nice. Get a good picture everybody so we look nice and handsome and thin. Perfect,’ Trump jested to journalists as they were briefly allowed to observe the meal.
The almost unbelievable nature of the encounter hasn’t been lost on Kim, whose repressive regime has kept the U.S. on edge for decades through bellicose statements, nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches.
‘Many people in the world will think of this as a … form of fantasy … from a science fiction movie,’ he told the president through a translator in a remark overheard during a morning session by the press.
A third grip-and-grin followed brief remarks to press inside the portion of their one-on-one meeting that was open to cameras
Kim and Trump are seen walking from their photo-op to a one-on-one meeting with only their translators
A third grip-and-grin followed brief remarks to press inside the portion of their one-on-one meeting that was open to cameras
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was instrumental in organizing the summit, arrives for the signing ceremony
Kim Jong-un’s motorcade departs the Capella hotel following the signing ceremony with Donald Trump
Kim’s motorcade leaves Sentosa island, where the summit took place. He was originally due to leave the country at 2pm, but that was subsequently pushed back
In their very first greeting, Trump set the tone for the talks, sending Kim an outstretched hand and patting the dictator’s right elbow with the other. Neither man smiled during the formal photo, taken on a red carpet in front of alternating American and North Korean flags.
As they turned the corner to head into their first of several sessions, however, in an area that Trump may have thought was off camera, the U.S. leader broke into a smile while exchanging quiet words with Kim and another handshake that lasted several seconds.A third grip-and-grin followed brief remarks to press inside the portion of their one-on-one meeting that was open to cameras.
For both leaders, everything was on the line on Tuesday in Singapore. Kim has the incentive of sanctions relief. For Trump, an agreement, no matter how weak was better than coming away empty-handed.
Trump had taunted his critics earlier on Tuesday in the hours before his history-making meeting with the North Korean dictator in tweets.
‘The fact that I am having a meeting is a major loss for the U.S., say the haters & losers. We have our hostages, testing, research and all missle launches have stoped, and these pundits, who have called me wrong from the beginning, have nothing else they can say! We will be fine!’ he tweeted.
Trump began shaping news coverage of his summit with Kim, taking place at 9 am local time and 9 pm in Washington, bright and early at 5:30 a.m.
Trump and Kim met one-on-one with only translators present in the morning before sharing a working lunch with their aides
WHERE’S THE YELLOWCAKE? The menu for the working lunch included six courses
Donald Trump uploaded this image of himself and Kim meeting alongside their delegations to Instagram after the summit
Trump and Jong-un had just finished off a working lunch when the American president appeared to make an unscheduled stop at the huge armored car, known as The Beast
The power move is likely to have impressed Jong-un who, despite his nation’s isolation, has a taste for American culture and Western luxury
He said in tweets before the sun rose over Singapore that ‘meetings between staffs and representatives are going well and quickly,’ echoing a statement from his White House the evening before that talks were progressing so fast Trump would leave Singapore early.
‘But in the end, that doesn’t matter,’ he acknowledged on Twitter. ‘We will all know soon whether or not a real deal, unlike those of the past, can happen!’
Trump’s motorcades was the first to pull into the Capella Resort in Singapore, which has been closed to outsiders for days out of extreme precaution, on Tuesday morning. Kim was not far behind, after making the under-fifteen minute drive from his hotel to Sentosa island along a route filled with gawkers.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shared a photo of himself marching through a hallway with a determined look on his face as his opening salvo in a tweet that declared: ‘We’re ready for today.’
Kim, meanwhile, spent the hours leading up to talks attempting to soften his image. The vicious ruler who has directed the murder of his own family members in a quest to consolidate his already absolute power posed for photos on Monday night as he went on a sightseeing tour with Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
His tour included a stop at the Marina Bay Sands hotel and casino, where he was welcomed by a cheering crowd of tourists and local residents who had flocked to the location to take in the spectacle.
Commuters in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, read about Kim’s late-night sightseeing tour around Singapore on Tuesday
North Koreans were among the last to know about the summit, only learning that Kim had traveled to Singapore on Monday
North Korea’s state-owned newspaper Rodong Sinmun ran dozens of pictures of Kim’s sightseeing tour on its front page
A coffee shop in Pyongyang was serving ‘combination hamburgers’ on Tuesday in a nod to the new relationship with America
As his trip around the city was taking place, the White House pulled the curtain back on the schedule for Tuesday’s talks.
A White House statement said the summit would consist of an introductory meeting, group discussion with the two nation’s senior officials, working lunch and press avail before Trump departs for Washington.
‘The discussions between the United States and North Korea are ongoing and have moved more quickly than expected,’ the statement said in an explanation of Trump’s newly announced Tuesday evening departure.
The White House said that Trump and Kim will speak with only translators present before a joint meeting with their delegations, as is consistent with the way that conversations with foreign leaders are typically handled. The president usually spends several minutes alone with his counterparts before moving into expanded bilaterals.
Pompeo told journalists during a briefing several hours earlier that Trump is ‘going into this meeting with confidence, a positive attitude and an eagerness for real progress’ toward North Korean disarmament.
He also said that America is prepared to offer Kim ‘unique’ security guarantees if the country is willing to give up its nuclear weapons.
Trump and Kim arrived within hours of each other in Singapore on Sunday. The U.S. president who almost never dines outside the White House and does not partake in alcohol hunkered down for most of Monday.
His only trip outside the posh hotel he’s residing at was to the presidential palace for a meeting and luncheon with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The summit’s host nation presented him with a cake to celebrate his Thursday birthday. Trump turns 72 on June 14.
During the rare trip out of his hermit nation, the 33-year-old Kim also hobnobbed with Singaporean officials. The dictator sat with Loong for formal talks on Sunday and went out on the town with the prime minister’s education and finance ministers the following evening.
Security around the summit was high as Singaporean navy ships and attack helicopters patrolled around Sentosa island
Singapore said it is paying around $15million in order to host the summit, at least half of which was spent on security
Heavily armed attack boats patrol around Sentosa where Kim and Trump met in the first summit of its kind on Tuesday
Heavily armed policemen guard the Capella hotel where Trump and Kim spent the morning engaged in historic talks
Kim, meanwhile, spent the hours leading up to talks attempting to soften his image. He’s seen here taking a selfie in from The Fullerton hotel in Singapore
Singapore’s Finance Minister Vivian Balakrishnan takes a selfie with Kim and and Singapore’s Education Minister Ong Ye Kung
The leaders are meeting at Capella Resort on Sentosa, which is south of central Singapore and an under 15-minute drive from their respective hotels
KIM ON THE MOVE: The North Korea dictator left after Trump for Sentosa island, traveling a similar route
Donald Trump is seen blowing out a candle on a birthday cake Monday that he had been presented with by Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
President Trump holds up a menu from the working luncheon that accompanied bilateral talks
Trump is being accompanied to the summit by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (pictured to his left) who has said America is prepared to offer North Korea ‘unique’ security guarantees if the country agrees to give up its nukes
A first-term president with no prior political experience who has a flare for the dramatics, Trump’s skeptics say this week’s summit with Kim will serve as little more than a misguided photo-op
Following a short conversation with Singapore government officials sent to greet him, the U.S. president then sped off in his motorcade to conclude his first evening in Singapore in the privacy of his room at the luxury hotel housing the U.S. delegation.
A timeline showing the build-up to the historic Trump-Kim summit
The upcoming meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore will kick off a potentially lengthy diplomatic process to try to resolve the standoff over Pyongyang’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Here’s a look at how the diplomacy took shape this year:
January 1: After an unusually provocative 2017 during which North Korea tested a purported thermonuclear warhead and three intercontinental ballistic missiles, Kim tries to initiate diplomacy in his annual new year’s address. He calls for improved relations and engagement with South Korea, though adds that he has a nuclear button on his desk. Trump responds on Twitter that he has a bigger and more powerful nuclear button, adding ‘and my Button works!’
January 9: North and South Korean officials meet at a border village and agree on North Korea sending athletes and delegates to the Winter Olympics in the South. Hundreds of North Koreans go to the Pyeongchang Games in February, including Kim’s sister, who conveys her brother’s desire for an inter-Korean summit with South Korea’s president.
March 5-6: South Korea’s presidential national security director Chung Eui-yong visits Kim in Pyongyang and reports that the North Korean leader is willing to discuss the fate of his nuclear arsenal with the United States.
March 8: South Korean envoys meet Trump in Washington and deliver an invitation from Kim to meet; Trump accepts.
March 27: Kim makes a surprise visit to Beijing for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in an apparent move to strengthen his leverage ahead of any talks with Trump.
April 18: Trump confirms that Mike Pompeo, then the CIA chief, had met Kim secretly in North Korea and said ‘a good relationship was formed’ heading into the anticipated summit.
April 21: North Korea says it has suspended nuclear and ICBM tests and plans to close its nuclear test site as part of a shift in its national focus to developing its economy. Trump tweets: ‘This is very good news for North Korea and the World.’
April 27: Kim holds a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The leaders announce aspirational goals of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and permanent peace.
orth Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, poses with South Korean President Moon Jae-in for a photo inside the Peace House at the border village of Panmunjom in Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, on April 27
May 7: Kim meets Xi again in China and calls for stronger strategic co-operation between the traditional allies.
May 9: Pompeo, now US secretary of state, makes another visit to Pyongyang to prepare for the planned Trump-Kim summit. North Korea releases three Americans who had been imprisoned.
May 10: Trump announces he will meet with Kim in Singapore on June 12. He tweets: ‘We will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!’
May 12: North Korea says it will hold a ceremony to dismantle its nuclear test site between May 23-25.
May 16: North Korea abruptly cancels a high-level meeting with the South and threatens to cancel the summit with Trump too in protest over US-South Korean military exercises and US comments that the North should follow the ‘Libya model’ of denuclearisation by eliminating everything upfront. The North says it will not be unilaterally pressured into abandoning its nuclear programme.
May 22: Trump and Moon meet at the White House to discuss the Trump-Kim talks. The South Korean president says the ‘fate and the future of the Korean Peninsula hinge’ on the meeting in Singapore.
May 24: A senior North Korean diplomat calls US Vice President Mike Pence a ‘political dummy’ for his comments on the North and says it is up to the Americans whether they ‘meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at (a) nuclear-to-nuclear showdown.’ North Korea dismantles its nuclear testing ground in front of foreign journalists, but Trump announces hours later that he is pulling out of the summit, citing the North’s ‘tremendous anger and open hostility.’
May 25: North Korea attempts damage control, saying it is still willing to hold talks with the United States ‘at any time, (in) any format.’ Moon calls Trump’s move to cancel the summit ‘very perplexing’ and says Washington and Pyongyang should get the talks back on track.
May 26: Kim and Moon meet at a border village in an effort to revive the summit with Trump. Moon says Kim reaffirmed his commitment to denuclearise their peninsula but also said he was unsure whether he could trust the United States to provide a credible security guarantee in return.
May 30: North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol, the most senior North Korean official to visit the United States in 18 years, arrives in New York for pre-summit negotiations with Pompeo.
June 1: After meeting Kim Yong Chol at the White House, Trump says his meeting with Kim Jong Un is back on for June 12.
June 5: White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweets that the Trump-Kim meeting will be held at Singapore’s Capella Hotel.