President Trump and North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended their historic
meeting in Singapore by signing a joint statement. The document promised “complete
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” without detailing exactly what that
would entail.
“President Trump and Chairman
Kim Jong Un conducted a comprehensive, in-depth, and sincere exchange of
opinions on the issues related to the establishment of new U.S.-DPRK relations
and the building of a lasting and robust peace regime on the Korean Peninsula,”
the statement said, using the North’s acronym for Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea.
“President Trump committed
to provide security guarantees to the DPRK,” it continued, “and Chairman Kim
Jong Un reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete
denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
The pair signed the document at
a ceremony where, according to press pool reports, Kim said through a translator
that the pair “decided to leave the past behind” and “are about to make a
historic change.” He also expressed “gratitude” toward Trump for joining the
talks. Trump said they would begin the denuclearization process “very quickly”
and, in response to shouted questions from reporters, said the two would “meet
many times” in the future.
Their statement described
the initial summit as “an epochal event of great significance in overcoming
decades of tensions and hostilities between the two countries and for the
opening up of a new future.”
Their remarks echoed positive
comments they made throughout their hours of meetings at the Singaporean
resort of Sentosa Island on Tuesday. It was the first meeting between a sitting
U.S. president and a leader of North Korea since the country’s founding in
1948, when the Korean Peninsula was divided and Kim’s family began its rule.
For most of the ensuing 70 years, the U.S. has technically been at war with the
repressive regime, because the Korean War ended in 1953 with an armistice
rather than a formal peace treaty.
The sight of the two men walking
side by side and praising each other before the cameras was a stark contrast to
the first year of the Trump administration, when the pair regularly exchanged
threats as Kim conducted repeated nuclear missile tests and ramped up tensions
in the region to their highest level in decades. Trump’s road to the summit
began late last year, when Kim made a series of overtures to South Korea, a
U.S. ally, that culminated in talks between the two neighbors. Kim also made
gestures toward the U.S., including the release
last month of American detainees that had been held in North Korea.
Despite the optimism Trump and
Kim expressed at their meeting, the agreement they signed contained few
specifics of how the pair would move toward peace. There was no description of
which programs North Korea would have to cease to be considered denuclearized —
or how its cooperation would be monitored. North Korea and the U.S. do not have
formal diplomatic relations. While the statement promised that there would be
“new” relations between the two countries, it did not say at what level or
provide any information about any potential withdrawal of the stiff sanctions
the U.S. has imposed on North Korea.
The joint statement signed
by Trump and Kim included four key points. The pair pledged “to establish new
U.S.-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two
countries for peace and prosperity.”
Trump and Kim promised to join their
efforts “to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.”
Kim reaffirmed a declaration he adopted during his April meetings with South
Korea to work with that country on a formal end to the Korean War. Last, Trump
and Kim said they would cooperate on recovering remains of prisoners of war and
soldiers missing in action from that conflict “including the immediate
repatriation of those already identified.”
Trump and Kim’s joint statement
was not distributed to the press at the signing. Yahoo News was able to obtain the
text by zooming in on photos of the documents the pair displayed at
the event.
Perhaps the most concrete
outcome of the statement was a commitment to “hold follow up negotiations led
by the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a relevant high-level DPRK
official at the earliest possible date.”
Trump and Kim shook hands before
the latter’s departure Tuesday afternoon. As they bid farewell, Trump responded
to shouted questions from reporters. He said they planned to meet “many times.”
Trump was also asked if he would invite Kim to the White House.
“Absolutely I will,” Trump said.
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