Nice to meet you Mr President

There was no warm embrace; they did not hold hands and skip across a line representing real and imagined slights and divisions.

It was a little awkward, a little tense, with mere flashes of warmth. But it was history. A single step on what is sure to be a long journey.

It was enough for those involved and the many millions watching in the region and beyond to release a collective breath that had built up over many months of bellicose language, name-calling and brutish warnings.

That sense of relief was evident on the faces of South Korea’s leaders watching the historic first meeting by a sitting United States president and a North Korean leader; it will be replicated elsewhere. The hands on the Doomsday Clock can go back a notch or two. By that simple measure, the summit was a success.

We have a great expression in this country: It is what it is. The meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un was simply that: a ‘‘get to know you’’ session to take a little of the heat out of the hype and separate the knowns from the unknowns.

Hopefully both leaders will now believe that the man opposite is someone they can deal with, even if there remains much to disagree on. Because this is likely the first of many meetings between these two nations and its leaders; Trump has hinted that he might even invite Kim to the US.

Such success and the progress it represents cannot be underestimated. Few commentators believe North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons any time soon. It makes little sense to do so: it was the one card – the only play – that brought the leader of the free world to the table and giving it up too soon would undermine North Korea’s leverage. Better to play it out a little at a time to extract the maximum security, fraternity and money that Kim and his country seek.

But this remains a great opportunity to cement those first steps and the greater peace that is a possibility; North Korea’s nuclear programme might not be off the table but by luring a reclusive regime back out into the warm bosom of global brotherhood, the clear and present danger has been pushed a little further to the side. More complex negotiations are sure to follow.

We have been here before. North Korea walked away from agreements in 1992, 1994, 2005 and 2012.

But Trump and his advisers deserve credit for putting the world in a position to welcome the North Koreans back into the fold; he has played a key role in bringing the parties closer together than any previous US administration.

For his part Kim appears to have revelled in the attention and been genuine in extending the hand of friendship and partnership, to South Korea, US and beyond. He has talked of formally ending the Korean War and making peace with the south.

That would be the next step sought by those seeking progress.

Denuclearisation remains a long-term goal for all parties, even if Trump insists ‘‘it will be done’’; it is imperative now that the US, China and others keep a firm but friendly grip on that hand to encourage North Korea beyond this meeting’s ‘‘prelude to peace’’.

North Korea’s nuclear programme might not be off the table but . . . the clear and present danger has been pushed a little further to the side.