trump-kim summit Trump, Kim commit to future meetings after cozy encounter The U.S. president lavished praise on Kim but did not secure a detailed path toward denuclearization.

SINGAPORE — President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday signed a joint agreement, after meeting in person for only a few hours, in which Kim promises to work toward ridding the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons.

But the text of the agreement contained few concrete steps to achieve that goal other than a commitment "to hold follow-on negotiations ... at the earliest possible date," according to a photo of the document.


Still, Trump called the document “pretty comprehensive” and Kim “a worthy negotiator," pledging to invite the North Korean leader to the White House in the future.

"Today, we had a historic meeting and have agreed to leave the past behind," Kim added. "The world will see a major change."

Meanwhile, Trump told reporters that he learned during their visit Kim is a “very talented man. I also learned that he loves his country very much.”

Trump and Kim met for several hours on Tuesday at a luxury hotel in Singapore for the historic summit, which was meant to broker a greater relationship between the two countries. It was the first time a sitting U.S. president had met with a North Korean leader.

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Before TV cameras and their one-on-one meeting, Trump treated the North Korean totalitarian leader as a peer. He flattered Kim by telling him it was an “honor” to meet him and predicted the two would have a “fantastic relationship.” This came just days after Trump openly fought with traditional U.S. allies including Canada, Germany, and France over trade policy at the G-7 meeting in Canada.

Politically, Trump’s meeting with Kim gave him the opportunity to play the role of statesman and dealmaker ahead of the crucial 2018 midterm elections — even if critics worried the summit was more of a photo-op than any substantive discussion to delay a potential military conflict.

“We had a really fantastic meeting. A lot of progress. Really, very positive, I think better than anybody could have expected, top of the line, really good,” Trump said earlier in the day about the historic summit, which has potentially far-reaching consequences for the North’s nuclear program and America's national security.

Yet it remains unclear if the meeting will eventually lead to tangible concessions from either side — including a possible exchange of security guarantees by the U.S. in return for a pledge by Kim to surrender his nuclear arsenal.

The joint statement did address the issue, saying Trump had "committed to provide security guarantees" to North Korea, while Kim had "reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

But the comments don't go much past what the two leaders have already said publicly. Kim also made a similar pledge at the conclusion of an April summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, at which the two leaders signed the so-called the Panmunjom Declaration.

In Tuesday's statement, North Korea reaffirmed its commitment to the Panmunjom pact.

Trump was bullish about the prospects that Kim would follow through on his commitment, predicting that the North Korean leader would start the process the moment he landed in Pyongyang. The president also mentioned that Kim had already agreed after the document signing ceremony to destroy "a major missile engine testing site."

"I said, 'Do me a favor ... we know where it is," Trump recounted, without offering specifics about the site. "I said, 'Can you close it up?'"

But Trump is also likely to face a backlash over a decision he announced Tuesday to end military exercises that the U.S. has long conducted with South Korea in the region.

"They're tremendously expensive," he said. "I think it’s inappropriate to be having war games."

Trump also expressed a desire to eventually remove the thousands of American stationed on the Korean peninsula, a point of contention for North Korea.

"I want to get our soldiers out," he said, while noting "that’s not part of the equation right now."

The remarks are likely to cause consternation among some military experts who believe the troops provide security for American allies in the region, including South Korea and Japan.

Separately, Trump was pressed about whether the leaders discussed North Korea’s terrible human rights record, which activists had pressed the president to do leading up to the meeting. While the document was silent on the topic, Trump told reporters that the human rights issue "was discussed relatively briefly" as part of the meetings. "It will be discussed more in the future."

The two sides did commit in the document to recovering and returning the remains of any prisoners of war or soldiers still missing in action. Trump stressed the importance of this pledge during his press conference, saying it would provide closure for families of "fallen heroes."

Leading up to the summit, some observers worried that Trump’s lack of preparation and desire for a win on the global stage would lead him to prematurely offer concessions, and that Kim would capitalize on the prestige that comes with being in the same room as the U.S. president.

“No matter what happens today, it’s a win for Kim Jong Un,” Michael Auslin, a fellow at the Hoover Institution, said ahead of the meeting. “Compared to that, there are huge risks for Donald Trump.”

Just months ago, a meeting between Trump and Kim would have seemed impossible. Trump in 2017 had ramped up sanctions and threatened to rain “fire and fury” on the isolated Asian country, derisively calling Kim “Little Rocket Man.” Kim, who is in his 30s, kept up his nuclear tests while belittling Trump as a “dotard.”

Trump also was especially angered when Otto Warmbier, a young American in North Korean custody, was returned to the United States in an unconscious state and later died.

In recent weeks, however, Pompeo has visited North Korea twice to talk to Kim about nuclear negotiations. North Korea also freed three other Americans in its custody and has taken other steps, such as dismantling a nuclear test site, that have sent positive signals to the United States.

Still, Trump aides have used the phrase “complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” to describe their aim, while North Korea says it is committed to “denuclearization” of the peninsula. The key difference is that Pyongyang has traditionally defined “denuclearization” to include security guarantees from Washington that can include the removal of U.S. troops from South Korea and a pledge not to extend America’s nuclear umbrella over allies in the region.

Great to be in Singapore, excitement in the air! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2018

The fact that I am having a meeting is a major loss for the U.S., say the haters & losers. We have our hostages, testing, research and all missle launches have stoped, and these pundits, who have called me wrong from the beginning, have nothing else they can say! We will be fine! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2018

Even if the two sides reach a common definition of denuclearization, how to achieve that goal — whether it involves tit-for-tat concessions, who will go first, and the time frame — still needs to be worked out.

U.S. intelligence officials have reportedly estimated that North Korea has as many as 60 nuclear warheads; they’ve also been reported to surmise that Kim has little interest in giving them up anytime soon, but that he might be willing to allow a Western fast-food chain like McDonald‘s into his country as a sign of good will.

Nahal Toosi and Nancy Cook reported from Washington. Brent D. Griffiths, Jacqueline Klimas and Wesley Morgan contributed to this report.