(Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
United States President, Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, have concluded a much anticipated summit by signing a document that Trump described as “pretty comprehensive” in Singapore on Tuesday.
The agreement was a pledge from Kim to work toward a complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and a commitment from Trump to provide security guarantees for North Korea. Specifics on how both pledges will be achieved at this stage unknown but details are expected to be revealed later on Tuesday in a media briefing.
The summit as a whole has launched hopes for a peace deal for the divided Korean Peninsula and a concrete agreement that Pyongyang will scale back or dismantle its nuclear programme.
Both Trump and Kim have expressed optimism throughout the summit with Trump saying “people are going to be very … happy and we are going to take care of a very dangerous problem for the world” when describing what the outcomes of the joint agreement will be.
Kim said the leaders had “decided to leave the past behind” and that “the world will see a major change”. Trump and Kim’s one-on-one meeting is the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader and the two marked this historic moment with a handshake and cautious smiles.
[(Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)]
During a media briefing before the meeting, Trump said he is confident that the talks will be a “tremendous success” and Kim said “it has not been easy to get here. The past worked as fetters on our limbs, and the old prejudices and practices worked as obstacles, but we have overcome them and we are here today”.