SINGAPORE (AP) Clasping hands and forecasting future peace, President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un committed today to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during the first meeting in history between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader. Yet as Trump toasted the summits results, he faced mounting questions about whether he got too little and gave away too much including an agreement to halt U.S. military exercises with treaty ally South Korea.
Meeting with staged ceremony on a Singapore island, Trump and Kim came together for a summit that seemed unthinkable months ago when the two nations traded nuclear threats. The gathering of the two unpredictable leaders marked a striking gamble by the American president to grant Kim long-sought recognition on the world stage in hopes of ending the Norths nuclear program.
Both leaders expressed optimism throughout roughly five hours of talks, with Trump thanking Kim afterward for taking the first bold step toward a bright new future for his people. Kim, for his part, said the leaders had decided to leave the past behind and promised: The world will see a major change.
