Daily Express

TAMING OF THE TYRANT

How Trump charmed Kim... over a prawn cocktail

- By Cyril Dixon

‘We’re much further along than I would have thought’

DONALD Trump heralded a “new chapter” in world peace last night after his historic summit with Kim Jong-un.

The US President said his fivehour meeting with the North Korean dictator had ended in a “tremendous” landmark agreement.

The deal commits Kim to “the complete de-nucleariza­tion of the Korean Peninsula”.

Mr Trump predicted that the previously-secretive leader would keep his side of the deal by destroying his nuclear weapons.

In exchange he promised to abandon military exercises with neighbouri­ng South Korea to avoid provoking Jong-un’s hardline communist state.

However, the President said the US would only ease its economic sanctions on the North if it improved its appalling record on human rights.

He declared after his meeting with Jong-un: “We’re prepared to start a new history, and we’re ready to write a new chapter between our two nations

“I believe he’s going to live up to that document.

“Our eyes are wide open, but peace is always worth the effort – especially in this case.”

The summit at the Sentosa Capella Hotel in Singapore was the first time a sitting US president has met a North Korean leader.

It came just a year after both men traded insults, with Mr Trump, 71, branding Kim “Rocket Man”, and his 34-year-old counterpar­t calling him a “dotard”. But yesterday the two men radiated warmth throughout their historic meeting which included a one-to-one session lasting 38 minutes.

Both smiled and exchanged small talk, and the talks ended with them signing the agreement then exchanging a cordial handshake.

Summarisin­g, Mr Trump said: “We’re much further along than I would have thought. It’s an honour, and we will have a terrific relationsh­ip, I have no doubt.”

Kim – whose voice has been virtually unheard outside his own country, told Mr Trump through an interprete­r: “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.”

So friendly were the two men that Mr Trump and Kim took a few minutes out during a break after lunch from the arms talks to admire the US President’s £1.2million limousine, dubbed “The Beast”.

The North Korean leader, who has a passion for western luxury, smiled as he peered inside the car, designed to survive a military or chemical warfare attack, which travels everwhere with the President.

The deal confirms an earlier peace declaratio­n signed between North and South Korea, and the key point commits the North to “work towards the complete denucleari­zation of the Korean Peninsula”.

Mr Trump said he had a “really fantastic” discussion with Kim and hoped to invite him to the White House, adding: “We’ll meet again. We’ll meet many times.”

Last night, Britain led a wave of cautious praise. Prime Minister Theresa May called the agreement an “important step for the region” adding that Kim had “heeded the message”.

And Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: “This is an important step towards the stability of a region vital to global economic growth and home to thousands of British nationals.

“Kim Jong-un may finally have heeded the message that only a change of course can bring a secure and prosperous future.”

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said the summit opened a new era of peace and cooperatio­n. “It is a great victory achieved by both the United States and the two Koreas, and a huge step forward for people across the world who long for peace.”

Wang Yi, foreign minister of China, North Korea’s main ally, said: “The United States and North Korea have been in a state of antagonism for more than half a century. Today, that the two countries’ highest leaders can sit together and have equal talks has important and positive meaning, and is creating a new history.”

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged the internatio­nal community to offer support in carrying out the deal’s provisions.

“Implementi­ng today’s and previous agreements reached, in accord-

ance with relevant Security Council resolution­s, will require patience and support from the global community,” his spokesman said.

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenber­g said: “Nato strongly supports all efforts leading towards the eventual denucleari­sation of the Korean Peninsula.”

EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini praised the summit as a “crucial and necessary step” to strengthen peace.

But Brian Klaas, an expert in political science from the London School of Economics, condemned the summit as “disgusting”, describing Jong-un as “the ruthless tyrant who starves, tortures, murders, and executes his people in depraved ways for his own viewing pleasure.”

And Thomas Countryman, a leading arms control official under previous president Barack Obama, accused Mr Trump of granting Kim “legitimacy” with the deal.

WHO would have thought it? President Donald Trump, possibly the most bellicose ever occupant of the White House, has pulled off the impossible and produced a peace deal with North Korea. He has certainly redefined the word “diplomacy” but all that yelling and threatenin­g has clearly worked. This truly is stranger than fiction: it’s as if a Bond villain suddenly relented five minutes before the end of the film and conceded that he wouldn’t go all out to destroy the world after all.

And if this was anyone else at all, the Nobel Peace prize would be a certainty. His predecesso­r got it on such nebulous grounds that President Obama himself seemed to be embarrasse­d to accept the award. But will President Trump, the absolute antithesis of everything the liberal middle classes hold dear, in Sweden as elsewhere, get this muchdeserv­ed honour? We wouldn’t bet the farm on it just yet.

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 ?? Pictures: ANTHONY WALLACE/REUTERS, KEVIN LIM/EPA, SAUL LOEB / AFP, JONATHAN ERNST / REUTERS ?? Thumbs up to a successful meeting...Kim Jong-un and President Trump at talks in Singapore yesterday An official prepares Kim’s pen, the signed agreement and above, a hand on the back for dictator’s new friend
Pictures: ANTHONY WALLACE/REUTERS, KEVIN LIM/EPA, SAUL LOEB / AFP, JONATHAN ERNST / REUTERS Thumbs up to a successful meeting...Kim Jong-un and President Trump at talks in Singapore yesterday An official prepares Kim’s pen, the signed agreement and above, a hand on the back for dictator’s new friend
 ??  ?? Handshake to seal deal between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump and inset, the signing ceremony
Handshake to seal deal between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump and inset, the signing ceremony

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