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| US President Donald Trump (R) and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un shake hands following a signing ceremony during their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018. PHOTO: SAUL LOEB / AFP |
The
two men strode toward each other and shared a handshake beneath the
white-washed walls of an upscale hotel in neutral Singapore, before sitting
down for a half-day of meetings with ramifications for the world.
A
Historic Summit
Donald
Trump and Kim Jong Un hailed their historic summit on Tuesday as a breakthrough
in relations between Cold War foes, but the agreement they produced was short
on details about the key issue of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons.
The
extraordinary encounter saw the leader of the world’s most powerful democracy
shake hands with the third generation scion of a ruling dynasty, standing as
equals in front of their nations’ flags.
Kim
agreed to the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”, a stock
phrase favoured by Pyongyang that fell short of long-standing US demands for
North Korea to give up its atomic arsenal.
After
a day filled with smiles and compliments in the sumptuous setting of a luxury
Singapore hotel that was watched around the world, the US “committed to provide
security guarantees” to North Korea.
Ahead
of the meeting, critics expressed concerns that it risked being more about
media headlines than substantive progress.
Asked
about denuclearisation — the crux of the summit — Trump said, “we’re starting
that process”, adding that it would begin “very, very quickly.”
But
the text of the two men’s agreement made no mention of previous US demands for
“complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation” — jargon for scrapping
weapons and committing to inspections.
Melissa
Hanham of the US-based Center for Nonproliferation Studies said on Twitter that
North Korea had “already promised to do this many times,” adding the two sides
“still don’t agree on what ‘denuclearisation’ means.”
In
neutral Singapore, the leaders, who had previously hurled insults like
“mentally deranged” and “little rocket man”, showered compliments on each
other.
Trump
said he had formed a “special bond” with Kim, whose regime has been accused of
multiple human rights abuse and who is suspected of ordering the assassination
of his brother at a Malaysian airport last year.
“We’ll
meet again,” Trump said after a signing ceremony, standing with Kim on the
verandah where they first met. “We will meet many times.”
Trump
said he “absolutely” would be willing to invite Kim to the White House.
For
his part, Kim said the two Cold War foes had vowed to “leave the past behind”,
pledging “the world will see a major change.”
The
extraordinary summit — unthinkable only months ago — comes after the Washington
and Pyongyang appeared on the verge of conflict late last year as the leaders
slung personal insults and Kim conducted nuclear and missile tests.
At
the start of the day, the pair shared warm words and shook hands for several
seconds, Trump reaching out to touch the North Korean leader on his right
shoulder.
As
they sat down for their tete-a-tete, the US leader — who had said he would know
“within the first minute” if a deal would be possible — predicted a “terrific
relationship” with Kim.
In
Seoul, South Korean President Moon Jae-in watched live on television, telling
his ministers, he “could hardly sleep last night”.
After
huddling for around 40 minutes, Trump and Kim were joined by senior advisors
before breaking for lunch, where prawn cocktail, short-rib confit, soy-braised
cod, and vanilla ice-cream were among the options.
The
imagery for the high-stakes meeting was undoubtedly positive and Kim Yong-hyun,
professor at Dongguk University in Seoul said: “The atmosphere of the summit
looks very good.”
“It
will be hard for this meeting to agree on specific deals but it carries
considerable significance as a starting point,” he said.
‘Fire
and fury’
Critics
said the mere fact of the meeting meant Trump was legitimising Kim, who critics
say runs a police state where human rights are routinely trampled.
“It’s
a huge win for Kim Jong-un, who now —- if nothing else -— has the prestige and
propaganda coup of meeting one-on-one with the president, while armed with a
nuclear deterrent,” said Michael Kovrig, Crisis Group Senior Adviser for North
East Asia.
The
warm words and positive optics seemed a different era from when Trump was
threatening to rain down “fire and fury” on Pyongyang and Kim attacked Trump as
a “mentally deranged US dotard”, as he fired off a series of provocative
weapons tests.
The
Singapore summit is a potentially legacy-defining meeting for both men —
comparable to president Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to China, or
Ronald Reagan’s 1986 summit with Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavik.
But
many agreements have been made in the past with North Korea that have later
fallen apart.
AFP
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