President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a historic summit in Singapore.
Here’s what you need to know about how the summit went down:
President Trump gave an hour-long press conference before he left Singapore — and it started this movie trailer-esque video:
The nearly 10-minute-long video starts with a title card claiming it’s a “Destiny Pictures” production, a voiceover and stock footage from around the world.
“Seven billion people inhabit planet Earth. Of those alive today, only a small number will leave a lasting impact. And only the very few will make decisions or take actions that renew their homeland and change the course of history,” the video begins.
The trailer eventually cuts to images of Trump and Kim.
The voiceover ends with this:
CNN just caught a glimpse of the North Korean delegation leaving the St. Regis hotel in Singapore, where Kim Jong Un was staying his stay for the summit with President Trump.
President Trump, who stayed at the Shangri-La hotel, left Singapore a few hours ago.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell just spoke on the floor about Trump’s meeting with Kim Jong Un, saying it is a major step toward “historic peace.”
“As President Trump explained a few hours ago, today is the beginning of the arduous process. Our eyes are wide open,” McConnell said.
“If North Korea does not prove willing to [denuclearize], we and our allies must be prepared to restore the policy of maximum pressure,” McConnell said. “Today I congratulate the President on this major step, and share his hope that it will begin a process that leads to an historic peace.”
The historic US-North Korean summit is making headlines across the world — except in North Korea.
By the early evening, the country’s tightly controlled media had completely ignored the meeting itself, at which North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a vague pledge of denuclearization.
However, the state-run newspaper did show images of Kim’s tour of Singapore, which happened the night before their meeting.
In North Korea, where all local media is state-owned, reports often come out a day after the fact, leaving the population there in the dark Tuesday on one of the country’s most significant political events in years.
Some things that were mentioned in North Korean news today:
UN Secretary-General António Guterres called the Trump-Kim summit a “important milestone in the advancement of sustainable peace,” according to his spokesman.
Here’s the full statement:
The Department of Defense “continues to work with the White House, the interagency, and our allies and partners” following the summit, Lt. Col. Dave Eastburn, a Pentagon spokesman, told CNN.
“We will provide additional information as it becomes available,” he added.
A separate senior US defense official said the Pentagon will work with the White House and State Department to further determine how to carry out the President’s intent on exercises.
The official says “right now the issues to be determined” are:
Why we’re talking about this: Earlier today, President Trump said the US plans to stop the “war games,” an apparent reference to joint military exercises with South Korea that North Korea has long rebuked as provocative.
Trump also said he hopes to eventually withdraw US forces from South Korea, but said “That’s not part of the equation right now.”
Here’s that moment:
The British Government hopes Kim Jong Un “continues to negotiate in good faith towards complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization,” according to a statement from British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
North Korea’s commitment to work towards denuclearization indicates that leader Kim Jong Un “may have finally heeded the message that only a change of course can bring a secure and prosperous to the people of North Korea,” Johnson’s statement also said.
Johnson described the the summit as “constructive” and added that the UK will continue to support the US’s efforts toward denuclearizing of the Korean Peninsula.
President Trump and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in talked on the phone moments ago, following Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
President Trump is currently on his way back to the US following the summit in SIngapore.
Moon and Kim held their own summit in April. They signed the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification on the Korean Peninsula, which committed the two countries to denuclearization and talks to bring a formal end to the Korean War.
Here’s the moment Kim and Moon met for the first time:
President Trump sat down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos just after he wrapped up his historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini praised the “rewarding” diplomatic efforts involved in the summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
She called the historic meeting a “crucial and necessary step to build upon the positive developments achieved in inter-Korean relations.”
In a statement, the EU affirmed that the Joint Statement signed by the US and North Korea indicates that “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean peninsula” can be achieved:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday welcomed President Trump’s meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti reported.
“We have not seen any documents,” Lavrov said, referring to televised comments from both sides. “I think they have not been published yet, but the fact of the meeting itself is of course positive.”
In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, President Trump said he trusts North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, and he has received the same trust in return.
“I do trust him, yeah. Now will I come back to you in a year, and you’ll be interviewing, I’ll say ‘Gee I made a mistake’? That’s always possible, George. You know, we’re dealing at a very high level, a lot of things can change,” Trump said.
“He trusts me, I believe, I really do … I think he trusts me, and I trust him.”
President Trump, in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, talked about the now-infamous meeting he had in Canada just before leaving for Singapore for his historic meeting.
Trump said he has “great friendships” with G7 leaders, but said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s comments at his press conference at the end of G7 were going to cost Trudeau “a lot of money.”
“He gave out a little bit of an obnoxious thing. I actually like Justin, you know I think he’s good, I like him but he shouldn’t have done that. That was a mistake. That’s gonna cost him a lot of money,” Trump said.
“But here’s what the story is, we have been taken advantage of as a country for decades by friends and enemies both,” Trump said, referring to trade.
Moments ago President Trump departed Singapore aboard Air Force One. He’s headed back to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, with brief stops in Guam and Hawaii first.
“Gone are the days of ‘fire and fury’ and ‘Little Rocket Man,’” CNN’s chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta writes, recounting his experience covering the historic meeting between the leaders of the United States and North Korea.
Conceding that it was surreal to see the two shaking hands, walking together and even taking an impromptu tour of the “Beast” — Trump’s armored limo — Acosta quoted Kim to sum it all up:
“Many people in the world will think of this as a form of fantasy … from a science fiction movie,” Kim said via the translator after the two leaders first met.
The United States Forces Korea (USFK) says there haven’t been any updated orders regarding planned drills, despite Trump’s comments at a press conference following his historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
“We here at USFK received no official updated guidance on execution or cessation in any upcoming training exercises to include this late summer’s scheduled UFG,” USFK spokesman Colonel Chad Carroll told CNN, referring to drills codenamed Ulchi Freedom Guardian, which are planned for late August.
Earlier today, President Trump said the US plans to stop the “war games,” an apparent reference to joint military exercises with South Korea that North Korea has long rebuked as provocative.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who watched the summit unfold from Seoul, offered his “heartfelt congratulations” and welcomed the success of the historic summit.
He said after speaking to the two leaders over the past month, he could “cautiously predict the success of the summit.
He added that the the summit was “a great victory achieved by both the United States and the two Koreas, and a huge step forward for people across the world who long for peace.”
The US is just waking up, and while you were sleeping, President Trump has a busy day in Singapore.
Here’s what you need to know about this historic summit he had with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
South Korea’s government has reacted cautiously to Trump’s comment in his news conference about shutting down the two countries’ annual joint military drills.
The South Korean president’s office said that “we need to figure out President Trump’s accurate meaning and intention (of this comment.)
“However, we believe we need to seek various measures how to efficiently move forward the dialogue, (while) serious talks are being conducted to denuclearize the Korean peninsula and to establish relations between North Korea and the US.”
At a press conference following his summit with Kim Jong Un, Trump said that the drills cost the US a lot of money.
