Trump-Kim summit: North Korea commits to 'work towards complete denuclearisation' – live
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Version 14 of 37. The pledges were vaguely-worded and did not represent an advance on similar agreements between their two countries over past decades. But the statement said there would be further meetings between senior officials to continue the momentum of the summit. Trump also drew attention to what he claimed was the warm personal chemistry established at the Singapore meeting, in arguing that it represented a breakthrough. The joint statement, signed by the two leaders after five hours of talks, laid out a basic bargain. “President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the DPRK, and Chairman Kim Jong-un reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” Previous agreements in 1994 and 2005 contained very similar promises, but they broke down over difference of interpretation, and spats over verification. Moreover, there is a gulf between the two sides idea of what denuclearisation will meet. The US is pushing for complete North Korean nuclear disarmament as quickly as possible. Pyongyang wants an open-ended process of negotiation in which it is treated as an equal. Commenting on the deal, Beatrice Fihn, the head of the Nobel prizewinning disarmament group, ICAN, said in a tweet: “We support diplomacy and peaceful solutions. But there is no agreement on nuclear disarmament and this all looked more like a big welcome party to the nuclear-armed club.” To be clear, this is better than nuclear war. But we cannot keep nuclear weapons forever (and add new nuclear armed states), because they will eventually be used one day. So, we need actual nuclear disarmament before a bomb goes off. https://t.co/J1ih0Z0Ngw Kim also undertook to cooperate with the US in the recovery of remains of US soldiers killed in the Korean war, a longstanding US request, which has so far produced only limited assistance Kim didn’t look too pleased when Trump joked about photographers making the two leaders look “nice and handsome and thin” before they sat down for their early working lunch. Kim's reaction to Donald Trump's joke is the best thing you will see all day today. #TrumpKimSummit pic.twitter.com/oLjVYIUApk US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claims the summit has delivered for America. Note the word “swagger” in his tweet. State Dept team at #singaporesummit delivers for America #swagger @StateDept pic.twitter.com/r7zuXRWORh Earlier he hailed the joint statement as “the start of a new relationship”. President Trump & Chairman Kim sign historic #Singaporesummit joint statement, the start of a new relationship. pic.twitter.com/uxmniY3neo James Carafanom, a senior figure in Trump’s transition team now with the conservative Heritage Foundation thinktank, is cheerleading for the agreement. He claims Trump’s critics now look foolish because the summit has not been the disaster that some predicted. Trump critics look foolish 1) they predicted absolute disaster 2) was not Great Leap Forward but not great leap backward 3) critics called a disaster anyway-sad It’s only different if context is different if 1) US doesn’t compromise on maximum pressure 2) US doesn’t compromise on denuclearization demand https://t.co/3GJT9z3iPE Here’s what we know so far: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has committed Pyongyang to “work towards” the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula in an agreement signed with Donald Trump in Singapore. It also commits the two countries “peace and prosperity”. The US and North Korea also agreed to recovering the remains of prisoners of war from the conflict between North and South Korea, and the immediate repatriation of those already identified. The vague nature of the agreement and the lack of other specific details was greeted with disappointment by analysts. Robert Kelly, professor of political science at Pusan National University, says the text is “even thinner than most sceptics anticipated”. China welcomed the summit as historic. The fact that the two leaders “can sit together and have equal talks has important and positive meaning, and is creating a new history,” the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, told reporters. He also talked of the need for a peace mechanism for the peninsula. Trump has said his talks with Kim Jong-un were “better than anybody could imagine”. The two leaders initially met in private for 38 minutes accompanied only by translators. They later held a working lunch with top aides. The talks were the first time a sitting US president has met with a leader of North Korea. Trump and Kim met on the steps of the Capella hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore and shook hands in front of a display of US and North Korean flags. The handshake lasted about 12 seconds. Speaking through an interpreter Kim said: “Many people in the world will think of this as a form of fantasy from a science fiction movie.” After the signing ceremony Kim’s motorcade headed for the airport. Donald Trump is expected to give a press conference at 4pm local time. He is due to leave shortly afterwards. Reuters has the full text of the document signed by Trump and Kim. President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) held a first, historic summit in Singapore on June 12, 2018. 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. President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the DPRK, and Chairman Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Convinced that the establishment of new U.S.-DPRK relations will contribute to the peace and prosperity of the Korean Peninsula and of the world, and recognizing that mutual confidence building can promote the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un state the following: 1. The United States and the DPRK commit to establish new U.S.-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity. 2. The United States and the DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. 3. Reaffirming the April 27, 2018 Panmunjom Declaration, the DPRK commits to work towards complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. 4. The United States and the DPRK commit to recovering POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of those already identified. Having acknowledged that the U.S.-DPRK summit - the first in history - was an epochal event of great significance and overcoming decades of tensions and hostilities between the two countries and for the opening of a new future, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un commit to implement the stipulations in this joint statement fully and expeditiously. The United States and the DPRK commit to hold follow-on negotiations led by the U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and a relevant high-level DPRK official, at the earliest possible date, to implement the outcomes of the U.S.-DPRK summit. President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea have committed to cooperate for the development of new U.S.-DPRK relations and for the promotion of peace, prosperity, and security of the Korean Peninsula and of the world. Korea analyst are not impressed by the vagueness and limited scope of the agreement. Robert Kelly, professor of political science at Pusan National University, says the text is “even thinner than most sceptics anticipated”. Wow. If this is it... this is depressing. This is even thinner than most skeptics anticipated. I figured Trump wd at least get some missiles or a site closure or something concrete: https://t.co/tvhLVnlXpj. This looks pretty generic. Maybe there will be some surprise in presser? https://t.co/BbzZaeCzo0 Arms control expert Jeffrey Lewis is also doubtful. How does the Joint Statement from the “epochal” Singapore Summit stack up with other historic documents on denuclearization? Not so well, I fear. See for yourself; @Joshua_Pollack has compiled them all.https://t.co/4c7t3rNpGD Chad O’Carroll of the Korea Risk Group decodes the text. Some initial thoughts:1. How will Trump make "security guarantees to the DPRK" genuinely credible?2. That answer will impact any KJU roadmap to "denuclearization of the peninsula" 5. Denucelarization will be of peninsula, not just NK.6. No mention of missiles! This was issue that brought all to fore last year.7. Text on MIA remains implies U.S. mil. figures will be visiting DPRK.8. Commitment to "expeditious" implentation is good. Here’s a slightly clearer view of those four key points. The most important one is the third point in which Trump and Kim “commit to work toward the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”. There is plenty of wiggle room in committing to work toward denuclearisation. LATEST: Preview of the Kim-Trump statement pic.twitter.com/VYzCe0u1Er Professor John Delury from South Korea’s Yonsei University likes the way the text leaked out. Marshall McLuhan would so relish this moment, when Text is inadvertently disclosed in the Image of post-Gutenberg Man, holding it aloft like a trophy. Too bad he’s not around to enjoy it. Here’s another close-up image of the text. North Korea commits to “work towards” denuclearisation in the document Kim signed with Trump, according to photographs of the text. ZOOM IN ON THE TEXT: "President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the DPRK, and Chairman Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." pic.twitter.com/vXBeIMP81i Jonathan Cheng from the Wall Street Journal says there are four key points. 2. “The United States and the DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.” 4. The United States and the DPRK commit to recovering POW/MIA remains including the immediate repatriation of those already identified. China has praised the summit as historic and called for “full denuclearisation” to resolve tensions on the Korean peninsula, AFP reports: The fact that the two leaders “can sit together and have equal talks has important and positive meaning, and is creating a new history,” the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, told reporters. “The crux of the peninsula nuclear issue is a security issue. The most important, difficult part of this security issue is for the United States and North Korea to sit down to find a way to resolution via equal talks. “Resolving the nuclear issue, on the one hand of course, is denuclearisation, full denuclearisation. At the same time, there needs to be a peace mechanism for the peninsula, to resolve North Korea’s reasonable security concerns.” There is impatience among watching journalists and analysts to see the contents of the document agreed by Trump and Kim. Dear White House staff,It’s 2:06 am on the East Coast. Can we move it along with the document please? They have signed an agreement but not sure what’s in it yet. Is it a success or not depends on what’s in it. https://t.co/rX1sMbTmS4 Trump and Kim have left Sentosa after the conclusion of the summit. The motorcades of the two leaders have left the resort island. Trump has said he will give a press conference later this afternoon, before departing Singapore at 7pm local time. He is expected to speak to the press alone. Trump and Kim have appeared on the steps of the hotel holding their signed agreements. “We had a terrific day and we learned a lot about each other and our countries,” said Trump. Asked what he learned about Kim, Trump said: “I learned he’s a very talented man and I also learned he loves his country very much.” They then enjoyed another extended handshake. Asked if they would meet again, Trump said, “We’ll meet many times,” before leaving the steps. The US and North Korean leaders have signed an agreement after historic talks held in Singapore. Trump and Kim arrived in the signing room, walking in together and taking seats at the table. Trump said the pair were signing a “very important document, a pretty comprehensive document”. Kim said: “Today we have had a historic meeting, we decided to leave the past behind. The world will see a major change. I would like to express my gratitude to President Trump for making this meeting happen.” After making statements, they shook hands and signed the documents. It is still unclear what they have signed. Trump said that would become clear shortly and that he would “discuss this at great length” in a press conference later this afternoon, but that the document was “comprehensive”. “A lot of goodwill went into this, a lot of work, a lot of preparation. We’re very proud of what took place today,” said Trump. Trump said the relationship between the world and North Korea was going to change in light of the agreement. “We are going to take care of a very big and very dangerous problem for the world,” said Trump. Trump was asked if he and Kim had talked about denuclearisation and he replied: “We’re starting that process very quickly, very very quickly.” Trump ignored a question about whether the pair had discussed about Otto Warmbier, the American college student who was held in a North Korean labour camp, and died shortly after being flown back to the US. Kim did not reply when asked if he was willing to give up nuclear weapons. “We’re very proud of what took place today,” said Trump. “I think our whole relationship with North Korea and the whole Korean peninsula is going going to be a very much different situation to what it has been in the past. We both want to do something, we’re both going to do something and we’ve developed a very special bond.” “I want to say thank you to Chairman Kim, we spent a lot of time together today, a very intensive time.” Trump was asked if he would invite Kim to the White House and Trump replied: “Absolutely”. The North Korean and US delegations have entered the room where the signing is due to take place. We are expecting Trump and Kim to arrive imminently. |