President Donald Trump answers a final question before departing a press conference following his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. | Win McNamee/Getty Images Trump pledges to end military exercises as part of North Korea talks But critics are warning that the U.S. president may be giving away too much.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. will halt joint military exercises with South Korea as part of larger denuclearization talks with North Korea — apparently catching South Korea and U.S. military officials by surprise and drawing criticism that he was giving away too much for little in return.

Trump, who also expressed a wish to one day withdraw U.S. troops from South Korea, spoke several hours after he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a ceremony in Singapore to sign a joint statement in which Kim vowed to eventually give up his nuclear program in exchange for security guarantees from the United States.


The one-page document contained few specifics on how that goal would be achieved. It also didn't describe what exactly “denuclearization” means to each side or what sort of time frame Washington and Pyongyang have in mind. Trump’s decision to stop what he — echoing North Korea — called “war games” was not mentioned in the document. Neither were other elements that Trump claimed to have convinced Kim to do, including destroying a missile engine testing site.

The joint statement did include language providing for further negotiations, hinting at potential future talks between the U.S. and North Korea and possibly between Trump and Kim.

The ad-libbed nature of Trump’s public comments and his exchanges with Kim drew growing alarm as the hours wore on, with former U.S. officials and non-proliferation experts warning that the North Koreans may have played a U.S. president who puts tremendous stock in one-on-one relationships, even when it comes to securing complicated agreements. There also were fears that Trump was giving Kim — whose human rights record is widely described as atrocious — too warm an embrace.

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But Trump said his admittedly limited interactions with Kim gave him the impression that the North Korean leader is interested in making a deal. He also said Kim committed to helping the U.S. government repatriate the remains of American soldiers whose bodies remain north of the Demilitarized Zone.

"I can only tell you that from the time I’ve (dealt) with him, which is really starting 90 days ago...I think he wants to get it done," Trump told reporters in the press pool aboard Air Force One, which departed Singapore Tuesday evening en route to Maryland's Joint Base Andrews with refueling stops in Guam and Hawaii along the way.

Asked if he trusts Kim, Trump replied: "I do."

At a news conference after the document was signed, Trump argued that the United States' joint military exercises with South Korea were "very provocative" and complained that Seoul doesn't foot enough of the bill. He added that the exercises require U.S. bombers to fly in 6 1/2 hours from Guam, where they are stationed.

Trump notably used the term "war games," a phrase preferred by the Pyongyang regime, which characterizes them as rehearsals for invasion.

“We will be stopping the war games which will save us a tremendous amount of money. Unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should. But we'll be saving a tremendous amount of money. Plus, I think it's very provocative,” Trump told reporters.

Trump also said he wants to eventually remove the thousands of American service members stationed on the Korean peninsula, another point of contention for North Korea. "I want to get our soldiers out," he said, but noted "that’s not part of the equation right now."

He said North Korea offered some concessions, including a pledge to destroy a major missile engine testing site as part of its agreement with the U.S.

Trump's vow to halt the military exercises and eventually withdraw troops incensed some military experts and foreign policy hawks who worried Trump was promoting Pyongyang talking points and moving too quickly to give up what they perceive as stabilizing forces in the region that deter North Korean aggression.

South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham, one of the most hawkish Republican senators, told "CBS This Morning" that he did not mind halting military exercises but that "the one thing I would object to violently is withdrawing our forces from South Korea. China is trying to play president Trump through North Korea. ..If we withdraw our forces and that's part of the deal, I can't support the deal. That will lead to more conflict not less."

Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, voiced concern about Trump’s “troubling” statements. “Unfortunate @realDonaldTrump spoke of US-RoK exercises as provocative war games. Also troubling he spoke of removing US troops w/o reference to reducing NK conventional mil threat,” Haass tweeted. “And suggestions he did not inform RoK govt in advance, if true, would be latest blow to an ally.”

Later on Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence appeared to inject confusion over what Trump had agreed to, after Pence told Senate Republicans that some training exchanges and readiness training with South Korea will continue, according to Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.).

Gardner told reporters that Pence and the administration will continue “to clarify what the president had talked about” but said that “exercises will continue with South Korea.”

"It's my understanding that there will be some exercises that will continue. And that's the clarification I was talking about that will most likely be coming when the president returns," Gardner said in an interview afterward.

But spokespeople for Pence denied that he had said anything that would contradict the president.

Unfortunate @realDonaldTrump spoke of US-RoK exercises as provocative war games. Also troubling he spoke of removing US troops w/o reference to reducing NK conventional mil threat. And suggestions he did not inform RoK govt in advance, if true, would be latest blow to an ally. — Richard N. Haass (@RichardHaass) June 12, 2018

And Trump earlier appeared to intentionally leave open the possibility of restarting the exercises should future denuclearization talks with North Korea stall. He also did not strike a deal on formally ending the Korean War, which many observers had predicted could be one outcome of the meeting, although he expressed hope that could still happen. The war ended in a stalemate in 1953, but the sides did not sign a peace treaty.

"The war never ended. Now we can all have hope that it will soon end. And it will," Trump said.

That the U.S. might halt joint military exercises with South Korea appeared to catch Seoul somewhat off guard, with the South Korean defense ministry saying that it would need to understand the “exact meaning and intent” of Trump's statements Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.

American forces in South Korea, too, said they had not received updated orders, according to the AP, and would continue to work with South Korean partners toward military exercises until they hear differently from the Pentagon or U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. Later Tuesday, the Defense Department released a statement expressing broad support for the president's efforts with North Korea without making specific reference to the pause in joint military exercises.

"The Department of Defense welcomes the positive news coming out of the summit and fully supports the ongoing, diplomatically-led efforts with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea," the statement said. "Our alliances remain ironclad, and ensure peace and stability in the region. The Presidential summit outcome is the first step along the path to the goal: complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and a free and open Indo-Pacific."

The president's summit with Kim marked a high point in a U.S.-North Korea relationship that has been antagonistic for decades. It was the first known meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader, and it followed a rapid warming of relations after a lengthy period in which Trump and Kim exchanged insults and nuclear threats.

The Singapore summit took place just days shy of the one-year anniversary of the death of Otto Warmbier, an American college student held prisoner by North Korea who died shortly after being released. Trump said Warmbier's death was a turning point in relations between the U.S. and North Korea.

"Without Otto, this would not have happened. Something happened from that day — it was a terrible thing. It was brutal. But a lot of people started to focus on what was going on, including North Korea," Trump said. "I really think that Otto is someone who did not die in vain. I told this to his parents. Special young man and I have to say, special parents. Special people. Otto did not die in vain. He had a lot to do with us being here today."

Critics were quick to point out that the statement signed by Kim and Trump, in its current form, included no guardrails on how to verify or when North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons.

Trump said verification would be "achieved by having a lot of people there," including both American and international monitors. The president did concede that the full denuclearization of the authoritarian state would be a lengthy process, but insisted that beginning that process would be a significant step.

"Scientifically, I’ve been watching and reading a lot of about this and it does take a long time to pull off complete denuclearization," Trump said. "But despite that, once you start the process it means it’s pretty much over."

The president said there was not enough time to delve into such granular details during such a summit.

However, he was quick to label the multi-hour meeting as “historic,” one that offered a “message of hope and vision” for relations between the two countries. He called the agreement "comprehensive," even if North Korea has agreed to similar promises in the past and then broken them under past administrations.

“You have a different administration. A different president. A different secretary of state. We get it done,” Trump told reporters while acknowledging he’d been awake for 25 straight hours.

Trump indicated that economic sanctions against North Korea will remain in place for the time being. He also said that he and Kim had discussed human rights during their meeting — though no mention of those violations or any concessions related to them showed up in the final agreement.

During the news conference and summit on Tuesday, Trump repeatedly flattered Kim, calling the totalitarian leader "talented" and a "very smart, a very good negotiator." That thread of goodwill ran throughout the day, as Trump said he would like to visit Pyongyang and similarly wanted Kim to come to the White House. Trump said Tuesday that he would invite Kim "at the appropriate time" to come to the White House and that the North Korean had already accepted the invitation.

In a one-on-one interview Tuesday with Voice of America, Trump heaped more praise on Kim, telling interviewer Greta Van Susteren that Kim has a "great personality," is a "funny guy," "very smart" and "a great negotiator."

Asked what he would say to North Koreans, whose access to media is tightly restricted, Trump said of Kim, "I think you have somebody that has a great feeling for them. He wants to do right by them and we got along really well. We had a great chemistry... Great things are going to happen for North Korea."

Kim’s government maintains prison camps where tens of thousands of North Koreans are believed to be detained in brutal, slave-like conditions. Political dissent is not tolerated by the regime, which has socialist roots and a heavy military component, and entire families can be punished for the alleged crimes of one member.

Trump said he and Kim discussed human rights "pretty strongly" during their meeting and at "pretty good length." But Trump also ratcheted down his past criticism of the Kim regime's human rights record, telling reporters that "it is a rough situation over there" but that "it's rough in a lot of places, by the way."

As for the future of North Korea, ruled by Kim’s family for three generations, Trump said it would be up to the North Korean people to decide.

Trump spoke of a video presentation he showed the North Korean delegation about the potential for their nation's development, but added that he told Kim that "you may not want this. You may want to do a much smaller version of this." Reverting briefly to his pre-politics career as a real estate developer, he noted the appeal North Korea's landscape would have as a tourism destination.

"As an example, they have great beaches,” Trump said. “You see that whenever they're exploding their cannons into the ocean, right? I said, 'Boy, look at that view. Wouldn't that make a great condo?' I explained it. I said, 'You know, instead of doing that, you could have the best hotels in the world right there.' Think of it from the real estate prospective: You have South Korea, you have China and they own the land in the middle. How bad is that, right? It's great."

The past few days have marked a time of turmoil for America’s global alliances. Trump has embraced Kim, treating him as a peer, even as he has attacked U.S. allies in the G-7, such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on trade-related issues.

Toward the end of the roughly hour-long press conference, one reporter asked Trump what he was prepared to do if North Korea failed to follow through on its side of the agreement.

“Honestly, I think he will do these things,” Trump said.

Still, in six months, if Trump finds out he was wrong about Kim, the president conceded he would never say so.

“I don’t know that I’ll ever admit that," he said. "I’ll find some kind of excuse."

Burgess Everett contributed to this report.