Trump crosses into North Korea, shakes hands with Kim in history-making event in the DMZ
PANMUNJOM, Korea — With grins and handshakes, President Donald Trump welcomed North Korea’s Kim Jong Un at the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone on Sunday, seeking to revive talks on the pariah nation’s nuclear program in a bid for a legacy-defining accord. Trump then became the first American leader to step into North Korea.
It happened late Saturday, California time.
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The brief photo-op, another historic first in the yearlong rapprochement between the two technically warring nations, marks a return to face-to-face contact between the leaders since talks broke down during a summit in Vietnam in February. But it does little to erase significant doubts that remain about the future of the negotiations and the North’s willingness to give up its stockpile of nuclear weapons.
Trump’s brief crossing into North Korean territory marked the latest milestone in two years of roller-coaster diplomacy between the two nations, as personal taunts of “little rocket man” and threats to destroy the other have been ushered out by on-again, off-again talks, professions of love and flowery letters.
“It’s a great honor to be here,” Trump said, “It is a great day for the world.” Kim hailed the moment, saying of Trump, “I believe this is an expression of his willingness to eliminate unfortunate past and into a new future.”
Before the meeting, Trump told reporters that there has been “tremendous” improvement since his first meeting with the North’s leader in Singapore last year.
Trump claimed the situation used to be marked by “tremendous danger” but “after our first summit, all of the danger went away.”
But the North has yet to provide an accounting of its nuclear stockpile, let alone begin the process of dismantling its arsenal.
The meeting at the truce city of Panmunjom also represented a striking acknowledgement by Trump of the authoritarian Kim’s legitimacy over a nation with an abysmal human rights record.
Trump’s summit with Kim in Vietnam earlier this year collapsed without an agreement for denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula. He became the first sitting U.S. president to meet with the leader of the isolated nation last year, when they signed an agreement in Singapore to bring the North toward denuclearization.
Trump was joined by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who praised Trump for deciding to meet with Kim. He called it “a bold decision”
Peering into North Korea from Observation Post Ouellette before the meeting with Kim, Trump was briefed on the North’s extensive artillery across the border that threatens the 35 million residents of Seoul, just over two dozen miles away. “All accessible by what they have in the mountains,” Trump said.
Trump and Moon greeted several dozen U.S. and South Korean troops guarding the Demilitarized Zone. Trump shook hands with the troops and received a gift of a golf jacket from the joint command. “You’re doing a fantastic job,” Trump told service members. “We’re with you all the way.”
The president departed Seoul aboard the Marine One presidential helicopter shortly after Moon announced Sunday, alongside Trump, that Kim had accepted Trump’s invitation to meet at the heavily fortified site at the Korean border village of Panmunjom.
Trump told reporters before departing that he looked forward to seeing Kim and to “shake hands quickly and say hello.”
The meeting between Trump and Kim marked yet another historic first in the yearlong rapprochement between the U.S. and North Korea, which technically are still at war. It also marked the return of face-to-face contact between the leaders since negotiations to end the North’s nuclear program broke down during a summit in Vietnam in February.
Moon praised the two leaders for “being so brave” to hold the meeting and said, “I hope President Trump will go down in history as the president who achieves peace on Korean Peninsula.”