Kim Jong Un Promises 'Major

Change' After First Ever

Summit Between Leaders of
U.S. and North Korea
Play Video
By CHARLIE CAMPBELL / SINGAPORE
Updated: June 12, 2018 2:02 AM ET

Seated before a background of six North Korean flags and six Stars and
Stripes, U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Supreme Leader
Kim Jong Un signed a vague denuclearization agreement at Singapore’s
palatial The Capella Hotel on Tuesday.

According to the document, Washington would provide unspecified

“security guarantees” in exchange for North Korea’s “unwavering
commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.” In a
press conference following the announcement, Trump indicated that the
joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises — which Pyongyang hates as a
rehearsal for invasion — would halt.

“They are very provocative,” Trump told reporters. “We will save a
tremendous amount of money.”

Four bullet points laid out goals of future talks without specifying the
immediate steps either side had to take. Trump said Kim had already agreed
to destroy a “major” nuclear testing site. He said human-rights were
discussed “very briefly.”
“The world is going to see a major change,” Kim, dressed in his trademark
dark Mao suit and horn-rimmed glasses, said during the signing ceremony.

“It worked out better than anybody could have predicted,” Trump told Kim.
“It was a great honor to be with you.”

Trump added that North Korea’s denuclearization process will be starting

“very quickly.” Specifics, however, were sparse. North Korea has tested six
nuclear bombs to date and now has missiles capable of targeting any
American city. But the ending of joint military drills must be seen as a huge
coup for the North Korea leader.

The document also says both leaders will strive “to build a lasting and stable
peace regime” on the Korean Peninsula. Trump said he learned Kim is a
“very talented man” who “loves his country very much” and agreed to invite
him to the White House. Trump said he will travel to Pyongyang “at the
appropriate time.” “We have developed a very special bond,” Trump said.

Trump and Kim began the first ever summit between the heads of these
longtime enemies with a one-on-one meeting, with interpreters, that lasted
38 minutes, followed by an expanded bilateral meeting with advisers before
a working lunch. The summit ended early in the afternoon with the
participants due to travel home that same day.

Speaking to reporters between sessions, Trump said the meeting was going
“very, very good. Excellent relationship.” Kim was asked three times
whether he would give up his nuclear weapons but did not reply.
“Well, it was not easy to get here,” Kim said. “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.”

During a walk along the hotel’s breezeway, Kim’s translator said, “Many
people in the world will think of this as a … form of fantasy … from a science
fiction movie,” according to audio from CNN.

This is a modal window.

The video connection was lost, please confirm

you are connected to the internet
Error Code: MEDIA_ERR_NETWORK
Technical details :
HLS playlist request error at URL: https://timesecure-
lh.akamaihd.net/i/timeap1_2@446253/master.m3u8
Session ID: 2018-06-28:e91ff8771bae7774336dbbfc Player ID: jumpstart_video_2
OK
Close Modal Dialog

Kim was in relaxed mood before the summit, leaving his hotel Monday night
for a walkaround the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay with his sister
Kim Yo Jong and other top deputies, even stopping to snap a selfie.
Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan posted a photo of himself
with Kim on Facebook. The sojourn even made the front page of Tuesday’s
main newspaper in North Korea.

In an unprecedented sign of openness, the summit was transmitted in real

time by North Korea’s state broadcaster KCNA. Normally North Korea’s 25
million people are normally only informed of such state events around 24
hours afterward.
There were two North Korean videographers, one cameraman, and one
supervisor, all wearing a pin which bore the image of North Korean founder
and Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung. Reporters also noticed a female North
Korean bodyguard.

The expanded bilateral meeting saw Kim joined by Workers Party vice -
chairman Kim Yong Chol, and North Korean foreign ministers Ri Yong Ho
and Ri Su Yong. Trump was joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,
Chief-of-staff John Kelly and National Security Adviser John Bolton, despite
the latter being despised by Pyongyang for his recent suggestio n that the
regime follow the Libyan model of disarmament. In 2003, North Korea even
described Bolton as “human scum and a bloodsucker.”

President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un sign documents as U.S.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the North Korean leader's sister Kim Yo Jong look on at
a signing ceremony at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018.

Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images

“He’s the national security advisor and certainly North Korea is a threat to
U.S. national security, so I think it’s appropriate he’s there,” Bruce Klingner,
former CIA station chief for Korea and now an analyst with The Heritage
Foundation, tells TIME. “If North Korea doesn’t like that, well, [you can
argue] we should exclude Kim from the room since the U.N. Commission of
Inquiry ruled that he’s a purveyor of crimes against humanity.”

In a bizarre movement, after the working lunch Trump appeared to take

Kim to check out his presidential Cadillac, in what observers suggested was
an attempt to bond with the millennial despot.

It remains to be seen how the agreement will be implemented. Pompeo

has promised North Korea an unprecedented and “unique” security
guarantee if North Korea commits to denuclearize. But Christopher Green, a
senior Korea analyst for the International Crisis Group, doubts that would
be enough to make the regime give up its nukes.

Read More: The Story of President Trump and Kim Jong Un’s Singapore
Summit in Four Photos

“If North Korea can get some astronomical and unforeseen benefit, the
leadership might be able to sell that to the elite and the people,” he tells
TIME. “I don’t see that kind of offer on the table but North Korea will be
aware that is one potential outcome.”

U.S. officials said many more meetings would take place between the sides.
But despite Tuesday’s historic signing, Klingner highlights the regime’s
brazen history of noncompliance.
“Well, first [North Korea] signed four international agreements promising
never to build nuclear weapons, and then four subsequent ones promising
to give up what they promised never to build in the first place.

“In January and April, Kim gave speeches [that said] we will continue to
ramp up production our nuclear weapons,” adds Klingner. “That doesn’t
exactly sound like they’re ready to give them up.”

The Story of President Trump and

Kim Jong Un's Singapore Summit in
Five Photos
By Feliz Solomon
June 12, 2018

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made
history on June 12 when they shared a smile and a lingering handshake before
their nations’ flags and the anxious eyes of the world.

The two came together at the opulent Capella Hotel on Singapore’s Sentosa
Island for the first-ever meeting between a North Korean ruler and a sitting U.S.
president to begin talks aimed at denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Following a volatile few weeks leading up to the summit in which Trump at one
point threatened to back out, the worst fears were allayed as the two men clasped
hands and the American president lightly gripped Kim’s right arm. The North
Korean leader reportedly greeted Trump in English, and was overheard saying,
“Nice to meet you, Mr. President.”

These are the moments history will remember, captured in a selection of

compelling photographs.

The Handshake
Trump and Kim exchanged a few words and a historic handshake at 9:05 a.m.
local time before heading off for a one-on-one meeting, joined only by their
translators.
President Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un shake hands at their historic summit in
Singapore on June 12, 2018.
Evan Vucci—AP/Shutterstock

The Thumbs Up

The two sat briefly with reporters just before their private audience, expressing
optimism about their countries’ shared future. Trump gave an enthusiastic
thumbs up before talks commenced.

“I feel really great. We are going to have a great discussion and I think
tremendous success,” Trump said. “We will be tremendously successful, and it’s
my honor and we will have a terrific relationship, I have no doubt.“

Kim spoke through an interpreter. “It has not been easy to come to this point,” he
said. “For us the past has been holding us back, and old practices and prejudices
have been covering our eyes and ears, but we have been able to overcome
everything to arrive here today.”
President Trump gives Kim a thumbs up during their historic summit in Singapore on June
12, 2018.
Evan Vucci—AP/Shutterstock
 The Body Language

Private discussions appear to have ended amiably as Trump and Kim both
emerged exerting confidence and comfort. Kim was seen smiling, still speaking
with his counterpart, and casually placing a hand on Trump’s left arm, a gesture
performed earlier by the American leader. Throughout their intermittent
appearances, the pair made physical contact several times, neither appearing
overtly dominant in the encounters.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un touches the arm of PresidentTrump shortly after meeting
at their summit in Singapore on June 12, 2018.
Kevin Lim—The Straits Times/Getty Images

The Bilateral

Trump and Kim met privately for about 40 minutes, joined later by senior aides
for a bilateral meeting. By Kim’s side were North Korean Vice Chairman Number
Two Kim Yong Chol, Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and former Foreign Minister
Ri Su Yong. Trump was joined by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly,
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton.

The leaders are set to depart Singapore Tuesday.

President Trump shakes hands with North Korea's Kim Jong Un before their expanded
bilateral meeting in Singapore on June 12, 2018.
Jonathan Ernst—Reuters

The Agreement

After a private talk, a bilateral meeting and a working lunch, Trump and Kim
appeared before the press to sign an as-yet unreleased document that the U.S.
president referred to as “pretty comprehensive.” The two-page memo, which was
photographed by journalists during the signing ceremony, said the U.S. and
North Korea are committed to working “toward complete denuclearization of the
Korean Peninsula.” Washington and Pyongyang have also agreed to forge a new
path in bilateral relations, pursue a lasting peace on the peninsula and recover
the remains of prisoners of war and soldiers who went missing in action.

America’s stated goal, absent from the document, is complete, verifiable and
irreversible denuclearization. Also missing is any mention of the Kim regime’s
record of human rights abuses, which has long left Pyongyang isolated by the
West and unwelcome in the Oval Office. Trump said the two leaders are open to
meeting “many times,” and that he would “absolutely” invite Kim to the White
House. He wound down the day’s events by remarking that he and Kim “have
developed a very special bond.”
U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a document signed by him and North Korea's leader
Kim Jong Un following their historic US-North Korea summit, at the Capella Hotel on
Sentosa island in Singapore on June 12, 2018.
Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images