Trump and Kim show the world they are best of buddies
IN A moment that would have defied credulity just a few months ago, Donald Trump strode toward the man he once called “a sick puppy”, arm outstretched in greeting. Smiling nervously, Kim Jong-un reciprocated, holding out his hand to the man who he, in turn, had derided as a “mentally deranged US dotard”.
Amid a cacophony of camera shutters, the men clasped each other in a 13-second handshake at 9.02am in a Singapore hotel yesterday, seemingly drawing a line under an extraordinary year of threats and insults that many feared could bring the world to the brink of nuclear war.
The sworn enemies finally met on the tiny island of Sentosa, the home of Singapore’s Disneyland and a suitable stage for grand geopolitical pageantry.
The day began shortly after 8am, when limousines, flanked by security convoys, ferried the North Korean leader and the US president to the colonial-style Capella hotel.
Striding toward each other from opposite ends of a colonnaded patio, in front of a display of the two countries’ flags lined side by side, Mr Trump was the first to extend his hand while they were still at least three yards apart, the 6ft3in US leader towering over his
5 ft 7 in counterpart.
With a paternalistic pat on the arm of 34-year-old Kim, Mr Trump, 71, lightly directed the despot he once derided as “little rocket man” to the cameras and into a meeting room. While Mr Trump, wearing dark business attire, assumed an expression striving for statesmanlike resolve, Kim, dressed in his trademark black
Chairman Mao suit, seemed nervous. In unguarded comments picked up by a CNN microphone, he told Mr Trump through a translator that onlookers would not believe these scenes.
“Many people in the world will think of this as a form of fantasy… from a science fiction movie,” he said.
For Kim, the summit imbued him with the legitimacy he has long craved. He had also scored a significant propaganda coup the night before the meeting, taking centre stage on a surprise walkabout to see the sights of Singapore, where he posed for selfies before astonished crowds.
It was a masterful stroke by the North Korean propaganda machine which, reportedly under the direction of Kim’s younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, appears to be winning the battle to transform his image from reclusive dictator to youthful statesman who can get the world’s most powerful leader to the negotiating table.
As the summit dawned, he showed a deferential side, observing the Korean custom of arriving seven minutes before his elder counterpart as a sign of respect. As they sat for the cameras, Kim was jovial, and Mr Trump looked relaxed, offering a thumbs-up as they shook hands again.
“Nice to meet you, Mister President,” said Kim, beaming broadly.
“I feel really great,” Mr Trump said. “We’re going to have a great discussion and will be tremendously successful. It’s my honour and we will have a terrific relationship, I have no doubt.”
The leaders appeared to quickly build an atmosphere of friendship ahead of a 45-minute meeting with only their interpreters in the room.
Ahead of the summit, the US president boasted he would be able to tell if it would be a success within the “first minute”. He emerged from their intimate discussion claiming it had been “very, very good”. He praised his “excellent” relationship with Kim and predicted they would solve the “big problem” on the Korean peninsula.
Kim smiled by his side but ignored shouts of “Will you denuclearise?” from journalists in the hotel gardens.
Few details of their conversation emerged, but it set the tone for immediate, business-like bilateral talks with their top aides to thrash out the details of a joint declaration on denuclearisation and peace.
On one side of an austere polished table, Team Trump included Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, John Bolton, the national security adviser, and John Kelly, the chief of staff.
Facing them was Team Kim which included Ri Su Yong, a top foreign affairs official, Kim Yong-chol, the former spy chief, and Ri Yong-ho, the foreign minister.
Contrary to expectations, the only woman in the room was not Miss Kim, who was by her brother’s side during his talks with Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, in April. Instead, it was Dr Yun-hyang Lee, a state department interpreter, on whose shoulders lay the heavy responsibility of translating loaded, nuanced remarks over nuclear weapons.
Three hours after their handshake, and with a historic agreement in sight, the leaders and their delegations broke for a lavish lunch.
As they entered the elegant, understated dining room at midday, Mr Trump provided the first visibly awkward moment when he asked photographers if they would make them look “nice and handsome and thin”. A television camera caught Kim’s apparent look of disbelief.
The uneasy moment was likely forgotten over an exquisite lunch that began with a conventional Western starter of prawn cocktail and avocado salad, and some flavours of Asia in the form of green mango kerabu with honey lime dressing and fresh octopus, and oiseon, a Korean stuffed cucumber. The diners were treated to beef short rib confit served with dauphinoise potato and steamed broccolini with red wine sauce.
Also on the menu was a combination of sweet and sour crispy pork and Yangzhou fried rice with homemade XO chilli sauce, and “Daegu jorim”, a soy-braised cod fish with radish and Asian vegetables.
A dark chocolate tartlet ganache was the dessert, served alongside ice cream, drizzled with cherry coulis.
As the doors closed for the two delegations to eat, anticipation built in Singapore about whether the summit would really be a breakthrough.
Thousands of journalists had come to the city-state, but with only a handful allowed into the hotel, it was a case of waiting for the white smoke.
Dennis Rodman, the former basketball star turned best friend of Kim, added to the surreal mood as he broke into tears live on CNN, overcome by the occasion.
A post-lunch walk provided the second opportunity for the cameras, as Kim and Mr Trump ambled slowly along a stone path. Both men looked distinctly more animated when Mr Trump, unable to resist a spontaneous display of one-upmanship, decided to show Kim his armoured car, a
$1.6 million vehicle known as The Beast, which is capable of surviving military and chemical warfare, and “much bigger and more powerful” – as Trump once boasted of his nuclear button – than the one at Kim’s disposal.
The suspense was broken shortly after 2pm when the two leaders simultaneously entered an ostentatious ceremonial room bedecked with six North Korean and six US flags. The leather-bound agreement before them was
The leaders appeared to quickly build an atmosphere of friendship ahead of a private 45-minute meeting
“comprehensive” and “important”, said Mr Trump. “We’re both very honoured to sign the document.”
Allowing Mr Trump to take the lead, and speaking through an interpreter, Kim called the document “historic”, adding that “the world will see a major change”. The leaders then signed the document with a flourish, although observers noted Kim did not use the pen provided. Instead, perhaps out of an ingrained sense of paranoia, he used one given to him by his sister.
The agreement hailed the summit as “an epochal event of great significance in overcoming decades of tensions and hostilities between the two countries” and committed the US and North Korea to working toward the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and building a stable peace regime.
As Kim headed for the airport, with his personal portable lavatory and bodyguards jogging alongside, the US president wanted more air time, giving reporters a rare press conference.
“It is a very great day, it is a very great moment, in the history of the world,” Mr Trump said. “Anyone can make war, but only the most courageous can make peace.”
There were pressing questions – had Mr Trump brought up human rights (he had, briefly) and when would Kim actually denuclearise (soon, but there was no timetable).
Mr Trump joked that North Korea’s amazing beaches had great real estate potential – “you see that whenever they’re exploding their cannons into the ocean”.
In the end, he had to be ushered offstage by his advisers after taking questions for more than an hour. And then with one more smile, the public relations exercise was over.
Now the real work begins.