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Trump arrives in demilitarised zone to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un – live Trump shakes hands with Kim Jong-un and steps into North Korea – live
(32 minutes later)
Trump is speaking now. He comments on the fact that we are hearing from Kim directly.
“You hear that voice, no one hears this voice, he doesn’t do press conferences.”
Trump says he wants to thank Kim for responding to his Twitter invitation to meet.
“If he didn’t show up the press was going to make me look very bad,” says Trump.
“If you look back two-and-a-half years, before I was president, it was a very very bad situation, a very dangerous situation for North Korea, South Korea, for the world. The relationship we have developed has been so much for so many people,” says Trump.
“Thank you for asking me to step over that line, I didn’t know if you were going to ask me to do that, I thought you might, but I was ready to do that if you asked.”
Trump calls the meeting “very historic”.
“The great relationship between President Trump and I, I don’t think if we didn’t have such a great relationship we could have organised this meeting in just a day. I would like to use this strong relationship to create more good news that nobody expects,” says Kim.
Kim confirms he heard from Trump yesterday afternoon and wanted to meet him again.
“I believe that meeting here, which is a symbol of division and a hostile past, I think meeting here, two countries that have a hostile past, we are showcasing to the world that we have a new present and we have a positive meeting going forward,” says Kim.
Trump and Kim are inside now, seated in front of a row of flags. Kim is speaking, will have the translation soon.
Standing with Trump on the southern side of the DMZ, Kim said. “President Trump just crossed became first US president to visit our country. This is an expression of his willingness to eliminate the aggression of the past and open a new future.”Trump responded: “This is my honour. I didn’t expect it. Stepping across that line was a great honour – a lot of progress has been made and this is a great friendship. It was short notice so I want to thank you,” he said, gesturing to Kim. “We’re going to go and talk for a while. A lot of positive things are happening … we met and we liked each other from day one. and that’s very important.”
And the press conference has actually wrapped up this time and Trump and Kim are heading inside a building for discussions.
Trump is still talking.
“When I became president of the US, there was great great conflict, now there is less conflict,” he says. “It’s my great honour and the Chairman’s honour.”
Trump also says “history has been made”.
‘Stepping across that line is a great honour,’ says Trump
Trump is speaking now, standing alongside Chairman Kim.
“I just want to say this is my honour,” he says.
“Stepping across that line is a great honour, great progress has been made, great friendships have been made and this has been, in particular, a great friendship.”
Trump has thanked Kim for being available to meet at such short notice, saying he called him up yesterday.
“We met and we liked each other from day one, and that is very important.”
The press conference has finished up, Trump says he and Kim are going inside to talk for a little while. A reporter asks whether Kim will come to the US any time soon.
“I would invite him right now,” Trump says.
Views from the North pic.twitter.com/hedUvpCdCN
Donald Trump has crossed the demarcation line onto North Korean soil.
This is huge, as Julian Borger writes:
“Donald Trump has become the first incumbent US president to cross, even if it turns out to be only a few inches, into North Korea. It has a particular symbolic importance to the Kim regime, and is a sign of the country’s normalisation and status in the world as a power among world powers. Bill Clinton came close to visiting in his last couple of months in office, but decided against it, after it was clear in 2000 that George W Bush had been elected as his successor. Clinton felt he could not lock Bush into a peace process the latter would not support.
“Jimmy Carter visited Kim’s father Kim Il-sung in 1994 in pursuit of a diplomatic breakthrough, but he went as a former president.”
The US president has met with the North Korean leader in a hastily-arranged handshake meeting.
Trump confirmed on Sunday that while the visit to the demilitarised zone has been scheduled for several months, he called up Kim yesterday to set up the brief meeting. Trump is in the region for the G20 meeting in Osaka.
The meeting is just a greeting between the two leaders, and it is not expected that the two leaders will hold long talks today.
Arirang News in South Korea is quoting sources as saying that Trump, Kim and Moon have already met at the DMZ. Though they also say: “We are also not really sure what is going on right now.”
It’s a weird afternoon. We’ll let you know as soon as we have confirmation of that meeting.
So we are now just waiting for Donald Trump’s handshake meeting with Kim Jong-un, which Trump said would happen in four minutes (roughly 10 minutes ago).
Confirmation that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are in the DMZ with the president.Confirmation that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are in the DMZ with the president.
Yeah, Javanka there. Iron-clad stares. https://t.co/CqTunSPTDI pic.twitter.com/8Nfs6JgosGYeah, Javanka there. Iron-clad stares. https://t.co/CqTunSPTDI pic.twitter.com/8Nfs6JgosG
Trump is greeting military personnel. This event is taking place at a base in the DMZ. He is now signing the wall of the base, in keeping with tradition.Trump is greeting military personnel. This event is taking place at a base in the DMZ. He is now signing the wall of the base, in keeping with tradition.
“Yesterday, I had the idea, maybe I’ll call Chairman Kim…We respect each other, might even like each other,” Trump told the gathered military personnel and press.“Yesterday, I had the idea, maybe I’ll call Chairman Kim…We respect each other, might even like each other,” Trump told the gathered military personnel and press.
Trump has been presented with a golf shirt and cap with his name on it from a US military leader, in appreciation of his work for peace in the region.Trump has been presented with a golf shirt and cap with his name on it from a US military leader, in appreciation of his work for peace in the region.
Donald Trump says this visit was organised several months ago when he told Moon he would like to visit the DMZ. But says that the meeting with Kim Jong-un was only organised yesterday. “So we didn’t give him much notice,” he says.Donald Trump says this visit was organised several months ago when he told Moon he would like to visit the DMZ. But says that the meeting with Kim Jong-un was only organised yesterday. “So we didn’t give him much notice,” he says.
He says the meeting with Kim will take place in about four minutes, so he needs to cut his remarks short.He says the meeting with Kim will take place in about four minutes, so he needs to cut his remarks short.
President Moon says we will witness an even more momentous event today.President Moon says we will witness an even more momentous event today.
He says these great changes, from the DMZ being a place of hostility to peace is due to President Trump, whom he praises as “the president of all of you”.He says these great changes, from the DMZ being a place of hostility to peace is due to President Trump, whom he praises as “the president of all of you”.
President Moon Jae-in is speaking now in a meeting with Donald Trump and military personnel. The South Korean president thanks the personnel for keeping Korea safe and says this is a historic meeting, the first time that the US president and South Korean president have ever been in the DMZ together.
Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and senior aide, is also in the DMZ and has signalled her willingness to cross into North Korea if invited.
Ivanka Trump says she will “absolutely” step over border at DMZ into North Korea today, “if I was invited.”“We need to continue that dialogue to work in good faith to realize that goal (of denuclearization). Today is another step in that direction,” she told me. pic.twitter.com/JSjwd1glfi
Interesting analysis from Frank Jannuzi, formerly of the state department, in response to Trump’s comment that “all of the danger went away” after the first summit between the two leaders last June.
Since the first summit, DPRK has probably produced enough fissile material (HEU) for 8-10 more nuclear weapons....while also testing a short-range solid fuel rocket that could be nuclear capable and hard for US missile defenses to knock down.
‘After our first summit all of the danger went away,’ Trump addresses press in DMZ
“It used to be dangerous, very, very dangerous. After our first summit all of the danger went away,” Trump said, while addressing press in the DMZ.
Trump criticised the press for their coverage of his summits with Kim Jong-un, particularly the most recent summit in Hanoi, which ended suddenly without an agreement. “They have no appreciation for what we’ve done,” he said.
“I would say to people who say nothing has been accomplished, so much was accomplished,” he said.
Trump could soon become the first sitting president to complain about the free press while in North Korea https://t.co/jPSQmXdlsT
Trump was told that around 25 million people, including 10 million in the Seoul greater metropolitan area, are within range of North Korean artillery along the northern side of the DMZ.
“There’s nothing like that anywhere, in terms of danger,” Trump said. “But it’s all working out,” he added in a reference to his dialogue with Kim Jong-un. “It always works out.”
While at the observation post, Trump’s military minder pointed out the Kaesong industrial complex, a joint North-South venture where tens of thousands of North Korean workers made products, including clothes and watches, for more than 100 South Korean companies.The complex’s fate has always been closely linked to the health of cross-border ties. It was closed by South Korea’s conservative government in 2016 in protest at North Korean nuclear test and missile launches. Seoul said profits from Kaesong were funding Pyongyang’s military programmes.The current South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, a liberal, would like to reopen Kaesong to encourage the North to make nuclear concessions, but restarting the complex is complicated by international economic sanctions against the regime in Pyongyang.
It’s unclear where Trump is going now and when and where he will be meeting with Kim Jong-un.
Trump is speaking to press. He says that much has been accomplished in improving the North Korean and US relationship due to his meetings with Kim Jong-un.
“I would say to people who say nothing has been accomplished, so much was accomplished,” he said.
“It’s all working out, it always works out.”
And Trump has left the observation tower.
A reminder that this issue has been a key branding point for Donald Trump who hails his meetings with Kim Jong-un (particularly the first meeting in Singapore last year) as one of the great achievements of his presidency.
Footage from that meeting has featured in many of the video packages produced by the president’s team, that resemble movie trailers, selling Trump’s achievements. Looks like we might expect today’s meeting to feature in the next video.
Trump's WH director of social media is on the trip to DMZ. Expect rapid turnaround video package of the 'handshake for peace' with KJU. https://t.co/SawW6zIC1H
Is this meeting significant?
At a press conference an hour and a half ago South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in said the meeting represented a “big hope to everyone”.
Speaking alongside Trump at the start of their bilateral talks, Moon said even a handshake and brief encounter between Trump and Kim “would be a significant milestone in the peace process on the Korean peninsula”.
Moon, who has travelled with Trump to the DMZ, added that he could “really feel that the flower of peace was truly blossoming on the Korean peninsula.”
He later told a joint press conference that he was “overwhelmed” with emotion about the meeting at the border village of Panmunjom. He described Trump and Kim as “so brave” adding, “I hope President Trump will go down in history as the president who achieves peace on Korean peninsula.”