Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have become the first sitting leaders of their countries to meet, shaking hands before a summit at the Capella hotel in Singapore just 10 months after the US president threatened North Korea with “fire and fury”.
The talks, the first of their kind, addressed the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and the warming of relations between the two countries.
Mr Kim and his South Korean counter-part Moon Jae-in committed to the denuclearisation of the peninsula in April.
They also agreed to bring an end to the Korean War, a 65-year-old conflict.
The summit, which lasted one day, touched on a number of themes. In a joint statement, President Trump and Chairman Kim specified the key points.
– The two countries’ commitment to establishing new relations in order to maintain peace. The US pledged “security guarantees” to the North and Mr Kim recommitted to “complete denuclarisation”.
– Joint efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula
– Reaffirming the April 27, 2018 Panmunjom Declaration, North Korea commits to work toward complete denuclearisation.
– Their commitment to recovering POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of those already identified.
The office of the US press secretary referred to the meeting 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”
The two countries are set to hold follow-up negotiations, led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and a relevant high-level North Korean official, at the earliest possible date, in order to implement the outcomes of the summit.