President Trump Meets with Kim Jong Un in Historic Summit
President Trump shook hands with Kim Jong Un at the start of a first-of-its-kind meeting of a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.
Against a backdrop of U.S. and North Korean flags, the two first shook hands for about 12 seconds, and Trump at one point grabbed Kim’s arm as they posed for pictures. They did not smile, but exchanged grins as they stopped in a colonnade on their way to a nearby room for a one-on-one meeting.
A few minutes later, as he sat with Kim, Trump told reporters, “We will have a terrific relationship, I have no doubt.”
“The old prejudices and practices worked as obstacles on our way forward, but we’ve overcome all of them and we are here today,” Kim said.
Their meeting is scheduled to last for 45 minutes, with only translators present.
The event at Sentosa Island in Singapore, starting around 9 a.m. Tuesday local time, was a sharp reversal from the rhetoric between Trump and Kim for much of last year, as each mercurial figure engaged in name calling and provocative rhetoric.
In March, Trump accepted Kim’s invitation to meet, breaking with predecessors who had shunned any type of a summit without major concessions from North Korea or multilateral talks that included a host of other Asian countries.
Trump has blamed past presidents for failing to resolve tensions with North Korea as it has pursued a nuclear program, testing missiles in displays of posturing and provocation.
What is unclear whether the summit will lead to any type of substantive outline of an agreement in which North Korea will halt its program and agree to denuclearize, and what kind of verification procedure it would accept.
Trump has downplayed what will come from the meeting, and told reporters last week that it is likely to be just the start. He said on Saturday that he thought that he would know “within the first minute” of the meeting how serious Kim would be to give up its nuclear program.
“If I think it won’t happen, I am not going to waste my time. I don’t want to waste his time,” Trump said.
Trump and Kim are scheduled to follow their meeting with an expanded meeting that will include Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Chief of Staff John Kelly and National Security Advisor John Bolton. Then, they will participate in a working lunch with Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, Ambassador Sung Kim and Matt Pottinger, National Security Council senior director for Asia.
Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted a jab at those who doubted the summit.
“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 wrote.
The White House said that Trump would leave Singapore earlier that expected — on Tuesday night local time. Kim was scheduled to leave earlier in the day.
“Meetings between staffs and representatives are going well and quickly….but in the end, that doesn’t matter. We will all know soon whether or not a real deal, unlike those of the past, can happen!” Trump tweeted earlier in the day.
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