Trump, Kim finally meet
By Web Master
US President Donald Trump says his historic talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that ended in a joint agreement were ‘tremendous’.
The signed document includes a pledge from Kim to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons.
But in an extraordinary media conference later, Trump announced details not in the paper.
He said he would halt US military exercises in South Korea, something widely seen as a concession.
The meeting was the first time a sitting US president has met North Korea’s leader, and caps a remarkable turnaround for the two.
Last year saw the pair sling various insults at each other, while North Korea conducted several ballistic missile tests in defiance of the international community.
For both men the meeting brought much to gain as well as considerable risk.
The meeting is seen by North Korea as a way of bringing legitimacy to a nation long regarded as a pariah.
Should Trump resolve the North’s nuclear threat, he would have achieved something none of his predecessors came close to.
The summit centred on nuclear disarmament and reducing tensions.
The agreement said the two countries would co-operate towards ‘new relations’, while the US would provide ‘security guarantees’ to North Korea.
On nuclear weapons, Kim ‘reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula’.
Observers said the document lacked substance, in particular on how denuclearisation would be achieved./BBC
