SINGAPORE – Nearly five hours of unprecedented and surreal talks between USPresident Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un culminated on Tuesdaywith fulsome declarations of a new friendship but just vague pledges ofnuclear disarmament.
For Trump, that amounted to a triumphant outcome in his extraordinarygamble with the rogue kingdom’s despotic leader. But there were scantdetails on what new commitments had been secured from Kim, even as Trumpannounced he would end the regular military exercises the US conducts withSouth Korea.
Whether nuclear disarmament is indeed the final outcome of Tuesday’s summitwon’t be known for years, if not decades. But the dramatic act of extendinghis hand to one of America’s longtime adversaries will forever illustrateTrump’s gut-driven, norm-shattering tenure.
“We both want to do something. We both are going to do something. And wehave developed a very special bond,” Trump said at the conclusion of thelandmark summit. “People are going to be very impressed. People are goingto be very happy.”The document he and Kim signed said the North Korean leader “reaffirmed hisfirm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the KoreanPeninsula.” In exchange, Trump agreed to “provide security guarantees” toNorth Korea.
But there was no mentioning the previous US aim of “complete, verifiableand irreversible denuclearization.” And Kim’s commitments did not appear togo beyond what he already pledged to do in April when he met South KoreanPresident Moon Jae-in along their countries’ border.
Trump insisted during a news conference the agreement went further thanmany people expected. But he acknowledged the effort to rid North Korea ofits nuclear arsenal was in its early stages.
“We will do it as fast as it can mechanically and physically be done,” hesaid.More critical, in Trump’s telling, was the development of a personal bondwith Kim, a brutal dictator responsible for the deaths not only of his owncitizens but of at least one American, Otto Warmbier, who was returned tothe US in a coma only to die days later.“I think our whole relationship with North Korea and the Korean Peninsulais going to be a very much different situation than it has in the past,”Trump said during the summit.Later, during his news conference, Trump said Warmbier’s death contributedto the summit taking place.
“Without Otto, this would not have happened,” Trump said.Trump and Kim — both intent on making history — greeted each other early inthe day with extended hands in front of a row of US and North Korean flags,a previously unthinkable sight that reflects a new chapter in the twocountries’ acrimonious relationship.
Trump’s threats to politely walk out of the meeting if his expectationswere unmet did not materialize. Instead he predicted he could “solve a bigproblem, a big dilemma” alongside his new partner.“Working together, we’ll get it taken care of,” Trump said.
The remarks came amid an improbable series of events that few could haveanticipated even three months ago. The unlikely images of US and NorthKorean counterparts engaging in friendly dialogue lent the day an air ofunreality. In a detailed menu, the White House said the men were servedHäagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream for dessert.