Nearly five hours of unprecedented surreal talks between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un culminated on Tuesday with fulsome declarations of a new friendship but just vague pledges of nuclear disarmament.
“We both want to do something. We both are going to do something. And we have developed a very special bond. So, people are going to be very impressed. People are going to be very happy,” Trump said at the conclusion of the landmark summit during a formal ceremony.
The documents he and Kim said the North Korean leader “reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” In exchange, Trump agreed to “provide security guarantees” to North Korea.
But there was no mentioning the previous US aim of “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization.” And Kim’s commitments did not appear to go beyond what he already pledged to do in April when he met South Korean President Moon Jae-in along their countries’ border.
Tuesday’s summit was the result of an extraordinary gamble for both Trump and Kim, the rogue kingdom’s despotic leader. Trump hailed the talks as a historic, and personal, achievement.
“We learned a lot about each other and our countries,” Trump said after sitting next to Kim and signing the document, which was bound in a leather binder. “I learned he’s a very talented man.”
He said he would “absolutely” extend an invitation to the White House to Kim, who also heralded a new era.
“Today, we had a historic meeting and decided to leave the past behind,” Kim said through a translator. “The world will see a major change.”
Later, during a solo news conference after the summit, Trump said he does indeed “trust” Kim.
“I do,” he said when asked by CNN’s Jim Acosta if he trusts Kim. “I do. I think he wants to get it done.”
Trump also said during the news event that the United States will stop the “war games,” an apparent reference to joint military exercises with South Korea that North Korea has long rebuked as provocative.
Trump also said he hopes to eventually withdraw US forces from South Korea, but said “that’s not part of the equation right now.”
“I want to get our soldiers out. I want to bring our soldiers back home,” Trump said. “But that’s not part of the equation right now. I hope it will be eventually.”
Trump also said ending the “war games” would save the United States “a tremendous amount of money.”
Trump and Kim — both intent on making history – greeted each other earlier in the day with extended hands in front of a row of US and North Korean flags, a previously unthinkable sight that reflects a new chapter in the two countries’ relationship.
Source: CNN
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