Trump, Kim sign ‘comprehensive’ joint document as historic summit nears end
Singapore parley ‘better than anybody could have expected,’ ‘really fantastic,’ says US president. Kim calls unspecified document ‘historic’
Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un signed a ‘comprehensive’ joint document at the end of their historic summit in Singapore on Tuesday.
“We are signing a very important document, a pretty comprehensive document, and we have had a really great term together, a great relationship,” said the US President before the two inked the unspecified document.
Trump announced he would be giving a press conference in the coming hours.
“We are both very honored to sign the document,” he said.
Kim called the document “historic.”
"We are signing a very important document, a pretty comprehensive document, and we have had a really great term together, a great relationship," President Trump says before signing unspecified document https://t.co/3Ua7REo4Iv pic.twitter.com/pmv27CJbCY
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 12, 2018
Minutes before, the two leaders had emerged from talks with the US president hailing what he said was “a lot of progress” and a “really fantastic” meeting.
The meeting went “better than anybody could have expected,” Trump said as he strolled out of the Capella Hotel side by side with the North Korean leader, adding that the two of them were going on to sign an unspecified document.
The two men met one-on-one for around 48 minutes Tuesday accompanied only by their interpreters.
They then went into a second meeting where they were joined by key aides.
Trump describes the document he and Kim are about to sign as "important" and "comprehensive" and Kim calls it "historic" – but neither say what is IN the document.
— Karen Travers (@karentravers) June 12, 2018
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.
The extraordinary summit — unthinkable only months ago — comes after the two nuclear-armed foes appeared on the verge of conflict late last year as they slung personal insults and Kim conducted nuclear and missile tests.
North Korea’s state media lauded Singapore Tuesday as they highlighted Kim Jong Un’s visit to some of its top tourist attractions.
A few hours ahead of his historic summit with Donald Trump — the first encounter between a leader of the isolated, nuclear-armed North and a sitting US president — Kim took a break from preparations for a waterfront stroll.
He was accompanied by the city-state’s foreign and education ministers — with whom he posed for selfies — and surrounded by officials as police held back pursuing reporters.
But images of the young leader are carefully controlled and managed in the isolated North, and travelling media from Pyongyang enjoyed close access to their leader.
No fewer than 14 images of his visit to the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) hotel, casino and convention centre and other sights were printed on the front page of the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper.
It showed him smiling on the MBS’ rooftop Sky Park observation platform, adding he “learned about the social and economic development” of Singapore.
Other pictures showed onlookers taking pictures of Kim, who has made only two previous trips beyond the Korean peninsula as leader, both of them to China.
Praising Singapore’s “clean and beautiful” environment, Kim vowed to “learn a lot from the good knowledge and experience of Singapore in various fields in the future,” the newspaper added.
The fulsome praise for another country is unusual for the media in the impoverished North, which generally do not show detailed images of affluent foreign countries.
The bright lights of the Singaporean city scape are a notable contrast to Pyongyang, much of which remains dimly lit at night despite Kim overseeing a number of prestige development projects during his rule.
US President @realDonaldTrump shows North Korean leader #KimJongUn the inside of his nine-tonne bulletproof and bombproof Cadillac, nicknamed "The Beast" #TrumpKimSummit pic.twitter.com/vz7k29njvu
— The Straits Times (@STcom) June 12, 2018
During their stroll, President Donald Trump gave Kim a rare peek inside the US presidential limousine.
They walked up to the limousine, nicknamed The Beast, and Trump could be seen talking and gesturing before a Secret Service agent opened the door and the leaders looked in.
It wasn’t immediately clear how Kim felt about the presidential tour, but he seemed to be smiling.
