U.S. President Donald Trump makes a statement before saying goodbye to North Korea leader Kim Jong Un after their meetings at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 in Singapore. Photo: AP
SINGAPORE: The Latest on the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump in Singapore (all times local):
3:05 p.m.
A joint declaration signed by President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says the US has committed to providing “security guarantees” to the North.
The document signed at the end of the pair’s historic summit in Singapore on Tuesday also says Kim “reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
It’s unclear exactly what Trump has promised Kim in terms of security. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined to say Monday whether guarantees might include withdrawing US troops from the Korean Peninsula.
A copy of the text snapped by a photographer at the signing summit says Trump and Kim also discussed how to build “a lasting and robust peace regime on the Korean Peninsula” in their talks.
US President Donald Trump took questions from reporters after he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a document. Trump said Kim is very smart, a worthy negotiator and loves his country very much. He says they’ll be meeting many times. (June 12)
2:50 p.m.
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have signed a joint document in which they commit to working “toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
The document signed by the leaders at their historic summit Tuesday also says they will join efforts “to build a lasting and stable peace regime” on the Korean Peninsula.
The White House has yet to release the document’s text. But it was photographed by the news media during a signing ceremony.
The document lays out four broad commitments. It says the sides “commit to establish new US-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.”
And it says they will commit to recovering the remains of prisoners of war and those missing in action.
2:15 p.m.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has left the small Singapore island that was the site of his meeting with President Donald Trump.
Kim’s convoy was left Sentosa Island on Tuesday afternoon after he signed a document with the American president, who stayed behind at the hotel where the two leaders met.
Both leaders characterized the document they signed as historic though neither provided details. Trump says the details would come later.
The summit was the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.
2:05 p.m.
President Donald Trump is praising North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a “very worthy, very smart negotiator” on behalf of his people as the two leaders bid each other farewell after their historic summit.
Trump was asked by reporters in Singapore during his final appearance with Kim on Tuesday what surprised him most during their meetings.
Trump says Kim has a “great personality” and is “very smart. Good combination.”
Trump also says he learned Kim is “a very talented man” and “loves his country very much.”
He’s wrapping up the summit by saying the two had “a terrific day” and “learned a lot about each other and about our countries.”
He says he expects they’ll meet again many times.
1:55 p.m.President Donald Trump says he “absolutely” would invite North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to the White House.
After Kim and Trump signed what Trump called a “pretty comprehensive” document, Trump was asked about a possible invitation. Trump said “absolutely, I would” invite Kim.
Before Tuesday’s summit in Singapore, Trump had dangled the prospect of a White House visit for Kim.
Both leaders characterized the document they signed as historic though neither provided details. Trump said the details would come later.
Trump and Kim commented as they closed a historic first meeting between a sitting US president and a leader of North Korea.
1:50 p.m.
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have signed what Trump says is a “very important” and “pretty comprehensive” document.
But Trump is refusing to tell reporters what the declaration says. The document is set to be handed out to reporters later.
Trump said Tuesday as the leaders wrapped up their historic summit in Singapore that he and Kim “have developed a very special bond” during their day together.
And he says, “Both sides are going to be impressed with the result.”
Kim told reporters that “the world will see a major change,” though it’s unclear how.
The summit marked the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.
1 p.m.
President Donald Trump has given North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a rare peek inside the US presidential limousine.
As the two leaders strolled around the grounds of the Singapore resort where they’re having their summit Tuesday, they walked up to the US limousine nicknamed The Beast.
Trump can be seen talking and gesturing before a Secret Service agent opens the door and the leaders look in.
It wasn’t immediately clear how Kim felt about the presidential tour, but he seemed to be smiling.
Trump says he and Kim will be signing a document shortly, but he declined to specify what that document would say.
12:55 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un will be signing a document shortly.
Trump declined to specify what exactly the leaders would be signing.
Trump said after emerging from hours of talks with Kim on Tuesday in Singapore that “we’re going right now for a signing.”
Asked what he’d be signing, Trump said: “We’re going to be announcing that in a couple of minutes.”
Trump also said that the meeting was “going great” and that they had made “a lot of progress.” He says he thinks it was “better than anybody could imagine.”
12:45 p.m.
President Donald Trump says his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un went “better than anybody could imagine.”
The leaders emerged from a working lunch and strolled together down a paved walkway Tuesday before stopping and posing before the waiting news media.
Trump said the meeting is “going great. We had a really fantastic meeting.”
He added that there has been “a lot of progress. Really very positive. I think better than anybody could imagine.”
The working lunch was the final official event scheduled for the leaders before they go their separate ways.
Trump is scheduled to address the press corps and then begin the journey back to Washington.
12:25 p.m.President Donald Trump joked about his appearance as he prepared to sit down to lunch with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Trump said to photographers at Tuesday’s summit in Singapore: “Getting a good picture, everybody? So we look nice and handsome and thin? Perfect.”
A video feed provided by the summit host showed Trump, Kim and their aides taking their places at a long table. Salad courses were prepositioned on the table along with flower bouquets.
Trump took his spot in the middle of the table, and Kim opposite him. Trump was joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and a few other aides.
The lunch menu includes beef short ribs, sweet and sour crispy pork, and braised codfish.
12:15 p.m.
The White House has restricted journalists’ access to parts of President Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un despite long-standing arrangements intended to ensure the public is kept fully abreast of key presidential moments.
Under standard rules agreed to by the White House and the press corps, a full pool of reporters travels with the president at all times and is allowed at any meetings where press access in granted. The group includes media representatives who then pool the information they gather with other news outlets that couldn’t attend.
During the photo-op at the start of Trump’s one-on-one meeting with Kim, text reporters for newswires The Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg were kept out of the pool, as were the designated representatives for radio and the foreign press corps.
12:05 p.m.
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have started a working lunch meeting in Singapore.
A video feed provided by the host of the summit showed Trump, Kim and their aides walking into a room and taking their places at a long table. Salad courses were prepositioned on the table along with flower bouquets.
Trump took his spot in the middle of the table, and Kim opposite him. Trump was joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and a few other aides.
Independent journalists covering Trump’s summit were not allowed in to witness the start of the lunch in Singapore.
11:45 a.m.South Korean President Moon Jae-in says he “hardly slept” in anticipation of the United States-North Korea summit in Singapore.
Moon and other officials watched the live broadcast of the summit before a South Korean Cabinet meeting in his presidential office Tuesday.
Moon smiled and nodded as he watched President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un meet.
Moon has met Kim twice in recent months and helped arrange the US-North Korean summit.
Moon said he “ardently aspires” for the success of the summit and hopes it brings complete denuclearization and peace to the Korean Peninsula.
Fighting in the Korean War ended with an armistice in July 1953. That armistice has yet to be replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula in a technical state of war.
11:35 a.m.
Former NBA star Dennis Rodman says all the pressure is on President Donald Trump in the historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Rodman told The Associated Press on Tuesday that it’s up to Trump to prove he can be trusted by Kim and the North Korean people. The basketball Hall of Famer says it will take multiple visits for the countries to have any hope of a peaceful relationship.
Rodman joked that he should be pushing for the Nobel Peace Prize, or “at least give me a piece of it.” He struck up an unlikely friendship with Kim over their shared love of basketball and has visited North Korea several times but had no official role in the summit.
Rodman says he expects to meet with Trump after the summit.
11:25 a.m.President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are set to chat over a lunch of beef short ribs, sweet and sour crispy pork, and braised codfish.
Details released by the White House show that lunch will begin Tuesday with a prawn cocktail and avocado salad, and green mango kerabu with honey lime dressing and octopus.
Side dishes included potato dauphinois, steamed broccolini, fried rice and Asian vegetables.
Dessert included dark chocolate tartlet and Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream.
Among those joining the leaders on the US side were Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, White House chief of staff John Kelly and national security adviser John Bolton. The North Korean delegation included Kim Yong Chol, a top aide to Kim Jong Un who recently met Trump at the White House.
10:30 a.m.
Former NBA star Dennis Rodman says he received a call from the White House ahead of President Donald Trump’s historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Rodman told CNN from Singapore on Tuesday that a White House staffer called the former “Celebrity Apprentice” contestant to tell him the president was proud of him.
Rodman struck up an unlikely friendship with Kim over their shared love of basketball, but he says former President Barack Obama never took him seriously.
Rodman described Kim as a “big kid” who wants to see the world. The former basketball player was very emotional in the interview, openly weeping as he spoke.
Rodman is in town for the summit, but the White House had said he will play no official role.
10:10 a.m.
President Donald Trump is sounding optimistic about his ability to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program after a lengthy one-on-one meeting with leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump said Tuesday at the beginning of expanded discussions with aides from both countries that “We will solve a big problem” and “a big dilemma.”
He talked about the pair achieving “tremendous success together” and predicts that “it will be successful. It will be done.”
It was hard to hear the president and Kim over the constant clicking of camera shutters, and it remains unclear precisely what he was referring to.
But Kim appeared to echo the president’s optimism.
9:55 a.m.
President Donald Trump says that his one-on-one meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was “very, very good” and that the two have an “excellent relationship.”
Trump and Kim met for about 40 minutes Tuesday one-on-one, joined only by interpreters.
Trump made the comments as he and Kim walked together along balcony as they headed to a larger meeting with aides.
Trump was flanked in the larger meeting by chief of staff John Kelly, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton. They sat across the table from Kim and his team.
9:20 a.m.
President Donald Trump is predicting that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will have “a terrific relationship” as they meet face to face for the first time.
Trump said Tuesday after meeting Kim that he’s feeling “really great.” He says, “We’re going to have a great discussion and a terrific relationship.”
Kim says through an interpreter that it “was not easy to get here” and that there “were obstacles but we overcame them to be here.”
The two men are expected to meet on their own for the better part of an hour, with only a pair of interpreters in the room.
That decision has raised concerns about the risk of holding such a monumental meeting with barely anyone to bear witness.
9:05 a.m.
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are sharing a historic handshake as they meet for the first time.
The two clasped hands for a long while Tuesday as they posed for photos in front of a row of US and North Korean flags. Trump then directed Kim to walk down a hallway, where they briefly spoke.
It’s the first ever meeting between a sitting US president and North Korean leader.
Trump and Kim arrived not long ago on Singapore’s Sentosa Island, the site of their unprecedented summit. It’s aimed at settling a standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.
The two will huddle alone for roughly 45 minutes before being joined by aides for a larger meeting and working lunch.
Trump has said he’ll know within minutes whether a deal can be made.
8:35 a.m.North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has arrived at Singapore’s Sentosa Island, where he’ll be meeting shortly face-to-face with President Donald Trump.
The two men are expected to share a handshake before they meet alone with a pair of interpreters for roughly 45 minutes while their entourages wait nearby.
After the intimate huddle, they’re scheduled to hold a larger meeting and working lunch. Trump’s chief of staff, national security adviser and secretary of state are among those expected to join.
The meeting is the first sit-down between a sitting US president and North Korean leader and is meant to settle a standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
Trump earlier defended his decision to meet with Kim, tweeting that North Korea has already released three detainees and that missile tests have halted.
7:50 a.m.North Korea’s state media has reported on Kim Jong Un’s late-night tour of Singapore with unusual speed.
Pyongyang’s official Rodong Sinmun on Tuesday filled its front page with photos of his visits to Singapore’s landmarks, including the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay and the Marina Bay Sands resort.
The North’s Korean Central News Agency quoted Kim as saying that Singapore is “clean and beautiful and every building is stylish” and that he will learn “a lot from the good knowledge and experience of Singapore in various fields in the future.”
It’s rare that security-obsessed North Korea reports on Kim’s activities within hours. When Kim visited China for meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping in March and May, state media didn’t report on the trips until after he returned home.
Some experts say North Korea is trying to keep up with the speed of the Western media in Singapore.
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