President Donald Trump became first sitting U.S. President to set foot on North Korea
Trump met Kim Jong Un on Sunday in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas with its leader, and agreed to resume stalled nuclear talks, expressing hopes for peace.
The two men met for the third time in just one year on the ancient Cold War frontier, symbolizing their country’s hostility, which is still technically at war for centuries.
Mr Trump, with Mr Kim’s escort, briefly crossed a line of army demarcation into the north.
Moments later, they returned to the side of South Korea and joined President Moon Jae-in of South Korea for a short chat, marking an unprecedented three-way meeting.
For almost an hour, Messrs Trump and Kim had a closed-door session.
“The meeting was a very good one, very strong … We agreed to work out details,” Mr Trump said. “We’ll see what can happen,” he added.
He said both parties are setting up teams to move forward stalled talks directed at bringing North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, adding that it is in no hurry for an agreement.
In June 2018, Messrs Trump and Kim met in Singapore for the first meeting and decided to enhance ties and work towards the Korean peninsula’s denuclearization.
But little progress has been made since then.
A second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, broke down in February after the two parties failed to narrow distinctions between a U.S. demand for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and a request for sanctions relief from North Korea.
Mr Kim looked relaxed and smiled as he chatted with Mr Trump in a crowd of photographers, assistants and bodyguards and the media.
“I was surprised to see your message that you wanted to meet me,” he told Mr Trump, referring to Mr Trump’s Saturday offer, in a Twitter posting, to meet.
“This is an expression of his willingness” to work toward a new future, Mr Kim said.
Mr Kim said that it would be a wonderful honor for Mr Trump to visit Pyongyang’s capital.
“To cross that line was a great honour,” Mr Trump said, referring to his brief incursion into the North Korean side of the DMZ.
“It’s a great day for the world,” he said.
“We moved mountains” to arrange the meeting at such short notice, he said.
Mr Trump arrived late Saturday in South Korea for discussions with Moon after attending a 20-summit group in Osaka, Japan, during which he created the surprise, spurred by the momentary offer to meet Mr Kim who accepted it.
In the so-called Joint Security Area (JSA), patrolled by both Korean troops, Mr Trump and Mr Kim met. After their first handshakes, Moon joined the two.
Mr Trump said he had “ample time” to reach a deal and was in “no hurry.”
“We want to get it right,” he said.
For years, North Korea has been pursuing nuclear and missile programs in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions, and relieving tensions with North Korea is one of the top foreign policy priorities of the US president.
After the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a truce, the DMZ was set up, leaving North Korea and a U.S .- led UN forces technically still at war.
