Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un made history as they both become the first sitting US and North Korean leaders to meet and shake hands on June 12 2018. This is a move towards an end to a tense decades-old nuclear stand-off.
The two men strode toward each other and shared the momentous handshake beneath the white-washed walls of an upscale hotel in neutral Singapore, before sitting down for a half-day of meetings with major ramifications for the world.
The extraordinary summit which held in Singapore was unthinkable only months ago. However, secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on the eve of the summit that the United States is willing to offer the regime “unique” security guarantees.
“We will take actions to provide them sufficient certainty that they can be comfortable that denuclearization is not something that ends badly for them,” Pompeo said.
“Just the opposite. That it leads to a brighter and better future for the North Korean people.”
Kim and Trump will first meet one-on-one in a closed session, before a larger meeting with key advisers, US officials said.
But the summit itself is unlikely to be the end game, more likely it is the start of a longer process of negotiation.
Pompeo said he was “very optimistic we will have a successful outcome with the two leaders.”
“There are only two people that can make decisions of this magnitude. Those two people will sit in a room tomorrow.”
However, Washington’s top diplomat also warned the United States would not be “duped” and that nothing less than complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization was acceptable.
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