US President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un met in Singapore this morning (June 12) for a ‘historic’ meeting.
While precise details of the meeting and the ‘comprehensive’ documents they both signed are yet to be clarified, the two leaders did have some words for the waiting crowd.
President Trump said:
People are going to be very impressed. People are going to be very happy, and we’re going to take care of a very big and very dangerous problem for the world.
And I want to thank chairman Kim. Spent a lot of time together today, very intensive time.
As the Daily Mail reports, Trump added he believes the process of denuclearisation would happen ‘very quickly’ following the signing of the document.
The US president also said the two men would meet ‘many times’, and he would be ‘absolutely’ willing to host Kim Jong-un at the White House.
Kim Jong-un, meanwhile, said:
We’ve decided to leave the past behind. The world will see major changes.
The summit between the two leaders, the first of its kind between a US president and North Korean leader, began with a lengthy and hearty handshake for the cameras, before the two men talked privately for 38 minutes.
Before the meeting, Trump said:
It will be tremendously successful, and it’s an honour, and we will have a terrific relationship, I have no doubt.
Upon his arrival in Singapore, Kim Jong-un said:
Well, it was not easy to get here. The past worked as fetters on our limbs, and the old prejudices and practices worked as obstacles on our way forward. But we overcame all of them, and we are here today.
To which Trump replied: That’s true.
As the leaders walked with their senior officials and advisors, Kim could be heard saying:
Of course there will be challenges ahead, but I am ready to listen. We overcame all kinds of skepticism and speculations about this summit, and I believe that this is good for the peace.
With Trump adding:
We will solve [this]. We will be successful. And I look forward to working on it with you. It will be done.
Remarking on the momentous occasion, the North Korean leader was heard to say:
Many people in the world will think of this as a … form of fantasy … from a science fiction movie.
After mounting tension between the two nations last year, and a history of division that stretches back decades, the fact the two leaders are meeting now is a substantial shift in dynamic.
Details of the documents they signed will be revealed later today, (June 12), but it’s still yet to be seen what agreements the two men have made.
As the BBC reports, Kim Jong-un is yet to commit to a disarmament agreement after building up a powerful nuclear arsenal.
The meeting is symbolically momentous for both countries, and indeed the world. After just a 38 minute discussion though, we don’t yet know the exact outcome, although it’s visible the relationship between the two nations has substantially changed.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.