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Trump says Kim makes ‘unwavering commitment’ to denuclearize

Ns News Online Desk:Ns News Online Desk: U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had made an “unwavering commitment” to the complete denuclearize of the Korean peninsula but sanctions against North Korea would remain in effect.

Trump, speaking after his historic summit meeting with Kim in Singapore, said both leaders were “prepared to start a new history and write a new chapter between our nations”.
“He reaffirmed his unwavering commitment to the complete denuclearize of the Korean peninsula,” Trump told a news conference.Trump says ‘will meet many times’ as summit with Kim ends

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged on Tuesday to work toward complete denuclearize of the Korean peninsula while Washington committed to provide security guarantees for its old enemy.
Trump said Kim had “an opportunity like no other”, and that Kim had said a North Korean missile testing site “is going to be destroyed very soon”.

Trump also said he would be “stopping the war games”, apparently referring to unspecified military exercises. Trump also said he and Kim had discussed human rights briefly.

Malaysia to reopen embassy in North Korea: Mahathir
Malaysia will reopen its embassy in Pyongyang, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said, suggesting an end to the diplomatic row over the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half-brother in Kuala Lumpur last year.”Yes, we will reopen the embassy,” Mahathir said in an interview with the Nikkei Asian Review published on Monday during his trip to Japan.Malaysia’s once-close ties with North Korea were severely downgraded after Kim Jong Nam was killed at a Kuala Lumpur airport in February 2017 when two women smeared his face with VX nerve agent, which the United Nations lists as a weapon of mass destruction.During their trial which is ongoing, the women said they were tricked into believing they were part of a reality show and did not know they were handling poison.The United States and South Korea have said the murder was orchestrated by Pyongyang.After Kim Jong Nam’s death, North Korea’s ambassador to Malaysia questioned the credibility of the police probe and insisted he was an ordinary citizen who died of a heart attack.Malaysia then recalled its ambassador to North Korea, banned its citizens from traveling to the North and cancelled visa-free entry for North Koreans.North Korea retaliated with a travel ban on all Malaysians in Pyongyang, trapping three diplomats and six family members.They were able to fly out only after Malaysia agreed to hand over Kim Jong Nam’s corpse and send three North Koreans wanted for questioning back to North Korea.Malaysia’s embassy in Pyongyang has not been staffed since April last year, and the government was considering permanently closing it and moving services to its Beijing mission.In the interview published a day before the Singapore summit between Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, Mahathir said he hoped both sides were ready to give ground.”North Korea has a right to have some of its own interests (upheld), as much as the U.S. has its own interests to take care of in any negotiation,” Mahathir said.”We shouldn’t be skeptical. When you (are suspicious), then you cannot work with people,” he added.

China says sanctions relief on North Korea could be considered
China’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that sanctions relief could be considered for North Korea, after U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a “comprehensive” document aimed at denuclearize.Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang made the comment at daily news briefing in Beijing. Trump, Kim sign agreement on denuclearize, security of North KoreaTop Trump economic advisor suffers heart attack Trump and Kim open historic summit with handshake

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged on Tuesday to work toward complete denuclearize of the Korean peninsula while Washington committed to provide security guarantees for its old enemy.”President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the DPRK and Chairman Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearize of the Korean Peninsula,” said a joint statement issued after their historic summit in Singapore.DPRK is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the formal name of North Korea.Trump said he expected the denuclearize process to start “very, very quickly”. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean officials would hold follow-up negotiations “at the earliest possible date”, the statement said.Video: Trump says ‘will meet many times’ as summit with Kim endsIt however did not give any details on how denuclearize would be achieved. The document also made no mention of the international sanctions that have crippled North Korea’s economy, for pursuing its nuclear weapons program me.Nor was there any reference to finally signing a peace treaty. The combatants of the 1950-53 Korean War are technically still at war, as the conflict, in which millions of people died, was concluded only with a truce.But the joint statement did say the two sides had agreed to recovering the remains of prisoners of war and those missing in action and repatriating them.If the joint statement does lead to a lasting detente, it could fundamentally change the security landscape of Northeast Asia, just as former U.S. President Richard Nixon visit to Beijing in 1972 l.ed to the transformation of China.China says sanctions relief on North Korea could be considered Before signing what Trump described as a “comprehensive” document, Kim said the two leaders had a historic meeting “and decided to leave the past behind. The world will see a major change.”Trump said he had formed a “very special bond” with Kim and that relationship with North Korea would be very different.”People are going to be very impressed and people are going to be very happy and we are going to take care of a very dangerous problem for the world,” Trump said.Asked whether he would invite Kim to the White House, Trump said: “Absolutely, I will.”Trump and Kim open historic summit with handshake He called Kim “very smart” and a “very worthy, very hard negotiator.””I learned he’s a very talented man. I also learned that he loves his country very much.”During a post-lunch stroll through the gardens of the Singapore hotel where the summit was held, Trump said the meeting had gone “better than anybody could have expected”.Kim stood silently alongside, but the North Korean leader had earlier described their summit as a “a good prelude to peace”.Both men walked to Trump’s bullet-proof limousine, nicknamed “The Beast”, and looked in at the rear seat, with Trump apparently showing Kim something inside. They then resumed their walk.They had appeared cautious and serious when they first arrived for the summit at the Capella hotel on Singapore’s Sentosa, a resort island with luxury hotels, a casino, manmade beaches and a Universal Studios theme park.But, with cameras of the world’s press trained on them, they displayed an initial atmosphere of bonhomie as they met on the verandah of the Capella, a refurbished 19th century British regimental officers’ mess.Body language expert said both men tried to project command as they met, but also displayed signs of nerves.MARKETS RISEAfter a handshake, they were soon smiling and holding each other by the arm, before Trump guided Kim to the library where they held a meeting with only their interpreters. Trump had said on Saturday he would know within a minute of meeting Kim whether he would reach a deal.Inside, they sat alongside each other against a backdrop of North Korean and U.S. flags, with Kim beaming broadly as the U.S. president gave him a thumbs up.After initial exchanges lasting around 40 minutes, Trump and Kim emerged, walking side-by-side through the colonnaded hotel before entering a meeting room, where they were joined by their most senior officials.Kim was heard telling Trump through a translator: “I think the entire world is watching this moment. Many people in the world will think of this as a scene from a fantasy…science fiction movie.”The dollar jumped to a 3-week top on Tuesday and Asian shares rose on the news.Trump was joined by Pompeo, National Security Adviser John Bolton, and John Kelly, White House Chief of Staff, for the expanded talks, while Kim’s team included former military intelligence chief Kim Yong Chol, foreign minister Ri Yong Ho and Ri Su Yong, vice chairman of the ruling Workers’ Party.As the two leaders met, Singapore navy vessels, and air force Apache helicopters patrolled, while fighter jets and an Gulfstream 550 early warning aircraft circled.After the meetings, the two teams and other senior officials met for a working lunch, where beef short ribs, sweet and sour pork and “Daegu Jormin”, or Korean braised cod, were served for the main course, according to the menu. That was to be followed by dark chocolate tarts, pastries and vanilla ice cream for dessert. The North Korean leader’s sister and close confidante Kim Yo Jong was among the lunch party.OPTIMISM, CAUTIONAs the cameras captured the moment, Trump quipped: “Very nice. Getting a good picture everyone, so we all look nice and handsome and thin…perfect”.In the hours before the summit began, Trump expressed optimism about prospects for the first-ever meeting of sitting U.S. and North Korean leaders, while Pompeo injected a note of caution whether Kim would prove to be sincere about his willingness to denuclearize.Pompeo said the summit should set the framework for “the hard work that will follow”, insisting that North Korea had to move toward complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearize.North Korea, however, has shown little appetite for surrendering nuclear weapons it considers vital to the survival of Kim’s dynastic rule.Sanctions on North Korea would remain in place until that happened, Pompeo said on Monday. “If diplomacy does not move in the right direction … those measures will increase.”The White House said later that discussions with North Korea had moved “more quickly than expected” and Trump would leave Singapore on Tuesday night after the summit, rather than Wednesday, as scheduled earlier.Kim was due to leave on Tuesday afternoon, a source involved in the planning of his visit has said.Trump spoke to Moon and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, both key allies of Washington in the region, to discuss developments ahead of the summit.”I too, got little sleep last night,” Moon told his cabinet in Seoul as the summit began in Singapore.”I truly hope it will be a successful summit that will open a new age for the two Koreas and the United States and bring us complete denuclearize and peace.”

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