Trump, Kim share historic handshake
President: Meeting was ‘very, very good’
SINGAPORE — President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made history Tuesday with a one-on-one meeting to size each other up and start discussions that could open the door to negotiations on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
The unprecedented summit between the two men, who only a few months ago were hurling insults and threats at each other, took place at a secluded island resort off the coast of Singapore.
Kim arrived at the summit site shortly before Trump. The two leaders emerged from different wings of the opulent hotel, standing on a red carpet over burnt orange tiles before a line of six American and six North Korean flags as they shook hands. Trump said a few words to Kim before they walked away together and made brief statements.
Then they headed, side by side, into a private meeting, each accompanied only by a single interpreter.
Trump said the meeting with Kim was “very, very good” and that the two have an “excellent relationship.” He said at the beginning of expanded discussions with aides from both countries that “we will solve a big problem” and “a big dilemma.”
Just before the meeting began, Trump tweeted that his top economic adviser, Larry
Kudlow, suffered a heart attack and was being treated Monday at a military hospital.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Kudlow was in “good condition” and “doing well” after suffering a “mild” heart attack. He was being treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
Though squadrons of administration officials have been preparing for this encounter for months, Trump was building up anticipation ahead of the 45-minute meeting. Trump had hinted it could be somewhat improvisational in character, followed by a more formal bilateral meeting that would be joined by aides. The U.S. side was expected to include Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, national security adviser John Bolton and White House chief of staff John Kelly.
“Meetings between staffs and representatives are going well and quickly ... but in the end, that doesn’t matter,” Trump tweeted before dawn in Singapore. “We will all know soon whether or not a real deal, unlike those of the past, can happen!” The stakes are high. The United States is seeking the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of North Korea, a nation that possesses dozens of nuclear weapons, including some capable of striking the U.S. mainland. Kim wants an end to sanctions, normalized relations with the United States and a dramatic reduction in the U.S. military presence in the region.
Kim is about to attain one of his main goals that has long eluded him: a level of international recognition that is automatically signified by a meeting with the U.S. president.
Even as their two motorcades wended their way along cleared-out highways toward the summit site on Sentosa island, it was unclear whether the president and the dictator could realistically reach any concrete agreements in just one day of talks.
Wide gaps remain between the North Korean and U.S. interpretations of what verification means. And the United States is insisting that it would not ease sanctions until North Korea’s denuclearization is complete. But Pompeo told reporters that the administration is prepared to provide security assurances unlike any that previous administrations have offered.
Trump, maintaining his early-morning Twitter habit even on the other side of the world, apparently woke up exuding confidence that the summit would be productive and would show up critics who carped that he is unprepared for rigorous talks on nuclear weapons.
“The fact that I am having a meeting is a major loss for the U.S., say the haters & losers,” he tweeted. “We have our hostages, testing, research and all missle launches have stoped, and these pundits, who have called me wrong from the beginning, have nothing else they can say! We will be fine!” Trump and his team vowed Monday that the United States would not repeat past missteps in negotiating with the rogue, nuclear-armed nation.
“The United States has been fooled before — there’s no doubt about it,” Pompeo told reporters as the two sides raced to finalize summit details.
“Many presidents previously have signed off on a piece of paper only to find the North Koreans didn’t promise what we thought they had or actually reneged on their promises,” he added. “Despite any past flimsy agreements, the president will ensure no potential agreement fails to adequately address the North Korean threat.”
On his final day before meeting Kim, Trump sought to consolidate support from key allies, speaking by phone with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who have been in close coordination with the White House for months.
Pompeo pronounced Trump well prepared for the meeting, emphasizing that the president was determined not to reward Kim until the North had taken concrete steps toward curbing its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.