U S President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un of North Korea hailed their historic summit Tuesday as a breakthrough in relations between Cold War foes, but the agreement they produced was short on details about the key issue of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons.
The extraordinary encounter saw the leader of the world’s most powerful democracy shake hands with the third generation scion of a ruling dynasty, standing as equals in front of their nations’ flags.
Kim agreed to the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, a stock phrase favoured by Pyongyang that fell short of long-standing US demands for North Korea to give up its atomic arsenal.
After a day filled with smiles and compliments in the sumptuous setting of a luxury Singapore hotel that was watched around the world, the US “committed to provide security guarantees” to North Korea.
Ahead of the meeting, critics expressed concerns that it risked being more about media headlines than substantive progress.
Asked about denuclearisation the crux of the summit Trump said, they are starting that process adding that it would begin very, very quickly.
However, the text of the two men’s agreement made no mention of previous US demands for complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation.