Trump, Kim to meet for historic handshake
sitting US and North Korean leaders to meet, shake hands and negotiate to end a
decades- old nuclear stand - off .
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 .
In a series of tweets early Tuesday morning Singapore time, Trump indicated that
summit preparations were “ going well and quickly ” .
“ We will all know soon whether
or not a real deal , unlike those
of the past , can happen,” he
tweeted — before hitting out in
a subsequent post at “ haters &
losers ” who see the summit
itself as a risky up - front
concession to Kim .
Pointing at the recent release of
three American hostages and
Pyongyang ’ s pledge to refrain
from further nuclear or missile
tests , Trump charged that
“ these pundits, who have called
me wrong from the beginning ,
have nothing else they can say!”
“ We will be fine!” he tweeted.
The face - to - face with Kim is a far cry from last year when Trump called on the
international community to exert “ maximum pressure ” to buckle the reclusive
regime and threatened to unleash “ fire and fury like the world has never seen” if
Pyongyang continued to threaten the US .
For his part , Kim called Trump a “ mentally deranged US dotard” and said he
would “ tame ” him , “ with fire” .
That will seem a distant memory later Tuesday amid the palms and whitewashed
walls of Singapore ’ s ultra- exclusive Capella Hotel , where the two men will walk
towards each other and then sit down for an initial half - day of meetings with
ramifications for the entire world .
It is a historic meeting for both men — perhaps comparable to president
Richard Nixon ’s 1972 visit to China , or Ronald Reagan ’ s summit 1986 with
Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavik .
It is potentially legacy- defining — as long as they can disprove critics ’ fears that
the meeting will be more about drama than detail .
The North has promised to give up its
weapons in the past , while a long
history of previous agreements have
ultimately foundered .
“ If there is no statement of
intentions to move toward a peace
treaty, if there ’ s no statement from
the North Korean side on
denuclearisation , we ’ re going to find
ourselves very quickly in a very
hollow summit, ” said Ryan Hass of
the Brookings Institution .
If that happened, he added , “ quickly we ’ ll move into a space of mutual
recrimination and finger- pointing about whose fault it was ” .
– Hugely symbolic talks –
The pair — Kim in his thirties and consolidating his dictatorship , Trump in his
seventies and struggling to bend Washington to his impetuous will — are unlikely
protagonists, both instantly recognisable and larger - than - life .
But their work this week is deadly serious .
Washington and Pyongyang are still technically at war , even if the mortars,
carbines and gunships of the bloody 1950 s conflict have long since fallen silent .
And the totalitarian regime has made rapid progress towards marrying nuclear
and missile technology that would put Los Angeles, New York and Washington
within striking distance of a nuclear holocaust .
The United States says that is unacceptable and will be dealt with , one way or
another.
But for North Korea the mere fact of the talks is a hugely symbolic advance .
For its leader , standing as an equal beside the US president in front of a phalanx
of cameras is a goal the pariah state has sought for decades, with critics charging
that it legitimises one of the most ruthless regimes .
On Monday evening Kim — accompanied by a phalanx of bodyguards and his
personal television crew — took a night - time stroll on the Singapore waterfront,
even posing for grinning selfies with the city - state’ s foreign minister .
– ‘Brighter future ’ –
Yet it remains far from clear that Pyongyang is willing to give up its nuclear
weapons, which it says it needs to defend itself against a US invasion .
On the eve of the meeting , aides from both sides were still scrambling to narrow
yawning differences over “ denuclearisation ” , which means vastly different things
to the two parties .
Trump , who is due to leave Singapore on Tuesday evening , will use what he says
are long - honed instincts to see whether Kim if bluffing, buying time or serious .
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday that the United States was willing
to offer the regime “ unique ” security guarantees , to “ provide them sufficient
certainty that they can be comfortable that denuclearisation is not something that
ends badly for them ” .
Kim and Trump will first meet one - on - one in a closed session , before a larger
meeting with key advisers , US officials said .
But Pompeo signalled that the summit was likely to be the start of a longer process
of negotiation , and warned the United States would not be “ duped” , with nothing
less than complete , verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation considered
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