Trump-Kim meeting: Democrats hit out at 'reality TV handshake' amid concerns over lack of specific promises from North Korea
Mr Trump says he trusts Mr Kim and that he believes the North Korean leader is sincere about his desire for denuclearisation
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Donald Trump appears to have made a major concession to North Korea following his joint agreement with Kim Jong-un, ending joint military exercises with South Korea that he deemed “provocative” and “tremendously expensive”.
He said he also hoped to “bring home” the 32,000 US troops stationed in South Korea at some point in the future, but acknowledged such a move was not “part of the equation right now”.
In a press conference lasting more than an hour Mr Trump also said the North had begun dismantling a major missile engine testing site, and he praised Mr Kim as “very talented”.
Later, as Mr Trump's plane landed in Guam to refuel, Mr Trump told reporters that he trusted Mr Kim and that he believed the North Korean leader was sincere about his desire for denuclearisation.
“I can only tell you that from the time I’ve (dealt) with him, which is really starting 90 days ago," Mr Trump said. "I think he wants to get it done".
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At the end of the summitMr Trump and Mr Kim signed what Mr Trump claimed was a “comprehensive” document following the historic meeting aimed at the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. The president said he believed the process of denuclearisation would happen “very, very quickly”, adding that he had formed a “special bond” with Mr Kim.
Mr Kim who has been granted a measure of international legitimacy with the summit, said the two leaders had “decided to leave the past behind. The world will see a major change”.
In the first meeting of a sitting US president and a North Korean leader, the pair convened at a luxury resort on Singapore’s Sentosa Island, clasping hands as they stood on a red carpet in front of a backdrop of alternating US and North Korean flags. Mr Trump was first to arrive at the summit site, followed by Mr Kim, both readying for the 9am meeting that culminated dizzying weeks of negotiations over logistics and policy.
The pair started the momentous Singapore summit with an historic handshake for the world’s media before getting down to talks about North Korea’s nuclear programme.
Mr Trump and Mr Kim met one on one for about 40 minutes, joined only by translators. Then aides to each arrived for more discussions and a working lunch.
The US president said the meetings went “better than anybody could have expected” after the pair emerged from lunch and strolled together down a paved walkway before stopping and posing before the waiting news media.
Mr Trump said the meeting is “going great. We had a really fantastic meeting”. He added that there has been “a lot of progress. Really very positive”
It is believed that the signing will likely revolve around a promise to keep meeting.
The White House said discussions with North Korea have moved “more quickly than expected” and Mr Trump would leave Singapore on Tuesday night, after the summit. He had earlier been scheduled to leave on Wednesday. Mr Trump will visit military bases in Guam and Hawaii on his way back to Washington.
Teams of officials from both sides held working-level talks on Monday.
Senior officials travelling with Mr Trump included secretary of state Mike Pompeo, national security adviser John Bolton and White House chief of staff John Kelly. As Mr Trump was travelling to the Capella Hotel which was the site of the summit, he surprisingly tweeted about another senior official - economic adviser Larry Kudlow - with Mr Trump saying he had had a heart attack. The White House later said that Mr Kudlow was in a good condition in hospital having suffered a “very mild” heart attack.
Mr Kim’s delegation consisted of foreign minister Ri Yong Ho, defence minister No Kwang Chol and Kim Yong Chol, a close aide of Kim who has been instrumental in the diplomacy that culminated in Tuesday’s summit.
Kim Yo Jong, leader Kim’s younger sister, was also spotted in his delegation. She emerged as an influential figure in Pyongyang’s opaque leadership in February, when she led a North Korean delegation to the Winter Olympics in South Korea.
When Mr Trump initially agreed to meet with the North Korean leader, the US president spoke of his hope that their encounter could secure a major breakthrough and lead to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
If so, then the meeting would be the most important since Ronald Reagan met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Geneva in November 1985.
Mr Trump has since sought to play down expectations, saying that the meeting will be an important first step, but that securing a deal will likely take many more meetings.
Given that what the US wants to get out of the summit, a rapid denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, may be different to what North Korea wants, there may be many such meetings. Many observers will be looking to see whether Mr Trump does extend an invitation to his counterpart to visit the White House.
Mr Trump denies that the lack of language stipulating "verifiable or irreversible" denuclearisation in the joint agreement signalled a concession by the US.
Verification will be "achieved by having a lot of people there", the president says, and those people will be both Americans and international observers.
↵Here is our full story on Mr Trump's apparent major concession to North Korea, just announced at his press conference
Mr Trump confirms it is the joint US-South Korea military exercises that will end due to their "incredible" cost.
He adds: "South Korea contributes but not 100 per cent, which is certainly a subject that we have to talk to them about also, and that has to do with the military expense and also the trade.
"So we're doing that. We actually have a new deal with South Korea in terms of the trade deal but we have to talk to them. We have to talk to many countries about treating us fairly."
The comments echo Mr Trump's previous complaints about Nato countries failing to pay their way by spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence, and his falling-out with G7 leaders in Canada over trade links.
The US is, by a distance, the world's biggest spender on defence.
Mr Trump cites a specific example of how the "war games" become so costly.
"We fly in bombers from Guam. I said, when I first thought it, 'Where are the bombers from?' Guam. Nearby. I said, 'Oh, great, nearby, where's nearby?' Six-and-a-half hours.
"That's a long time for these big massive planes to be flying to South Korea to practice and then drop bombs all over the place and then go back to Guam.
"I know a lot about airplanes, it's very expensive."
Mr Trump owned an airline, Trump Shuttle, from 1989 to 1992.
Our correspondent Andrew Buncombe writes from Singapore about Mr Trump's praise for Kim Jong-un
Asked about his fractious couple of days at the G7 summit, Mr Trump says the US is "being taken advantage of by every single one of those countries".
Mike Pompeo and John Bolton and "our entire team" will meet to "get into the details" of the agreement with North Korea in the coming week, Mr Trump says.
"We've been discussing this for months," Mr Trump says of his meeting with Mr Kim.
The White House and State Department were given roughly three months' notice of the summit when Mr Trump accepted the North Korean's invitation to meet back in March.
North Korea did "a great thing" by attending the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Mr Trump says.
"President Moon will tell you this - the Olympics was not exactly doing great. People didn't feel like being bombed out of the opening ceremony, you know, they weren't exactly selling tickets.
"As soon as Chairman Kim said, 'Let's participate in the Olympics', it sold like wildfire."
Asked how he will ensure North Korea is not "all talk, no action" on denuclearisation, Mr Trump gives a somewhat rambling answer:
"Can you ensure anything? Can I ensure that you're going to be able to sit down properly when you sit down?
"I mean, you can't ensure anything. All I can say is, they want to make a deal. That's what I do, my whole life has been deals, I've done great at it. And that's what I do.
"I know when somebody wants to deal and I know when somebody doesn't. A lot of politicians don't, that's not their thing. But it is my thing."
Mr Trump also reiterates his belief that the stand-off with North Korea could have been resolved "a long time ago".
He adds: "I just feel, very strongly, my instinct, my ability or talent, they want to make a deal."
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