USA TODAY International Edition
Trump, Kim finally meet face-to-face
Leaders meet one on one, with only translators
SINGAPORE – After more than a halfcentury of hostility between their two countries, President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un came faceto-face to try to strike a deal over the latter’s nuclear weapons.
“We’re going to have a great discussion and a terrific relationship,” Trump said before he and Kim held a one-onone meeting, with only translators in the room.
Kim told Trump “there were obstacles, but we overcame them to be here.”
In an extraordinary scene earlier, the two leaders who once threatened each other with nukes shook hands on a red carpet in front of the island resort hotel where they are meeting. As cameras whirred and clicked, a global audience watched as Trump smiled and grabbed Kim’s arm for a photo opportunity that featured American and North Korean flags arrayed behind the two leaders.
Trump and Kim chatted amiably out of earshot as they walked into the building for the private meeting that preceded a full bilateral conference that includes aides and advisers.
“Meetings between staffs and representatives are going well and quickly,” Trump tweeted hours before his historic sit-down with Kim. “But in the end, that doesn’t matter. We will all know soon whether or not a real deal, unlike those of the past, can happen!”
In another tweet, Trump denounced “haters & losers” who said he should not have granted Kim — an autocrat accused of having political rivals killed — the prestige of a presidential meeting without more North Korean concessions.
Citing the return of American hostages and a suspension of North Korean nuclear testing, Trump said that “these pundits, who have called me wrong from the beginning, have nothing else they can say! We will be fine!”
While on his way to meet Kim, Trump also tweeted that White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow had suffered a heart attack and has been hospitalized in Washington, D.C.