By Daniel Hordon
President Trump and Kim Jong Un have, in an historic summit, signed a joint letter committing North Korea to denuclearisation. The breakthrough in relations comes after a summit overnight held between the two leaders in Singapore.
President Trump and Kim Jong Un have, in an historic summit, signed a joint letter committing North Korea to denuclearisation. The breakthrough in relations comes after a summit overnight held between the two leaders in Singapore.
Trump and Mr Kim’s historic summit saw the first meeting between a sitting US president and North Korean leader. A joint letter signed by the two commits North Korea to complete denuclearisation and sees President Trump promise security guarantees for the state as well as bringing an end to the military exercises carried out in South Korea which have been seen as provocative by the North.
The joint letter signed by the two leaders committed the pair to four points: (*DPRK referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, more commonly referred to as North Korea).
The summit comes after a breakthrough in international relations for North Korea after Mr Kim met with South Korea’s President Moon twice in the last 2 months to discuss denuclearisation and the potential unifying of the Korean peninsula.
After the talks, the two held an historic joint press conference which brought Mr Kim in front of the international media for one of the first times. Mr Trump said "Anyone can make war but only the most courageous can make peace" and described the meeting, saying: “[the meeting was] really very positive. I think better than anybody could have expected. Top of the line. Really good.”
Mr Kim and Trump had previously engaged in frosty remarks with the latter calling the North Korean leader “little rocket man” and as recently as last August the two had threatened each other with nuclear action on many occasions. The summit brought about a change of tune for the pair with Trump branding Mr Kim as “very talented”.
Little is known about the reasons behind the sudden change in tone from the secretive state, which shocked world leaders in January after agreeing to field a joint Korean hockey team for the Winter Olympics in Seoul amid renewed diplomatic efforts with the South. However, experts have suggested tremors caused by the testing of nuclear weapons in September last year may have caused the collapse of a major nuclear test site, Punggye-ri, which forced the North to cease its development of nuclear weapons.
Punishing economic sanctions on the country from the European Union, USA, China and others are also thought to be pushing North Korea into greater international cooperation.
Internationally, the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has said that the promised denuclearisation of the peninsula is “meaningful” having been described as a good friend by Mr Trump after the summit. Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said (in relation to UN imposed sanctions on North Korea), “the security council should and conform to the efforts of the current diplomatic talks towards denuclearisation the Korean peninsula,” suggesting a possible withdrawal of sanctions if Pyongyang conforms to the deal.
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