US President Donald Trump and North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un met early Tuesday UAE time in Singapore. Follow all the updates from the historic summit here ...
12.35 pm
Here are the key points of what Trump said at the post-summit press conference, which lasted over an hour:
• Trump hailed his summit with Kim Jong-un as “very important event in world history” claiming Kim has given his “unwavering” commitment to denuclearisation.
• He claimed denuclearisation of North Korea’s “very substantial” nuclear arsenal could be achieved very quickly but gave few details or a specific timeframe.
• Denuclearisation “takes a long time scientifically”, Trump said.
• International observers, including Americans, will be deployed to verify North Korea’s denuclearisation, Trump insisted despite the lack of a commitment to this in the agreement the two leaders signed.
• Trump said he looked forward to lifting sanctions once “nukes are no longer a factor”.
• Trump agreed to stop US-South Korea war games. He said they were "provocative, inappropriate and very expensive".
• North Korea has already demonstrated its commitment to denuclearisation by destroying a missile engine site, Trump claimed.
• He also repeatedly praised North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympics in South Korea.
• Kim was praised for ushering in a “glorious new era of prosperity for his people”.
• Trump said he trusted Kim, got on with him, and said he was a “very talented” negotiator, but denied that he saw Kim as his equal. He claimed that a US video of the summit would not be used by Kim for propaganda purposes.
• Kim will be invited the White House at the appropriate time, Trump said. The president also agreed to travel to Pyongyang at the appropriate time.
• North Korea’s human rights record was discussed at length during the talks, Trump claimed.
• He said the 100,000 people in North Korean gulags would be among the big winners from the summit.
11.35am
Verifiability of the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula is part of the agreement, US President Trump told a post-summit press conference in Singapore.
The US President Trump also thanked the summit host, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, as well North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for making the historic meeting possible.
He also expressed gratitude to the the leaders of South Korea, Japan and China as well as his top aides who worked behind the scenes to helped put the summit together.
Full text of the Trump-Kim joint statement
Alone time: Trump, Kim Jong Un ditch aides to meet 1 on 1
"Today is the beginning of an arduous process...This should have been done years ago," said Trump. "Anyone can make war. But only the most courageous can make peace."
"Peace is always worth the effort, especially in this case," said Trump.
'Glorious new era'
"Chairman Kim has before him an opportunity like no other...to be remembered as the leader who ushered in a glorious new era of security and prosperity for his people. Chairman Kim and I has just signed an agreement in which he affirmed his unwavering commitment to the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. We also committed to implement the agreement as soon as possible," said Trump.
10.48am
US, North Korea commit in document to recovering, repatriating remains of those missing from Korean War.
Complete denuclearisation of Korean Peninsula
10.25am
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his commitment to "complete denuclearisation of Korean Peninsula", in a joint agreement signed with President Donald Trump Tuesday.
The text made no mention of US demands for "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation" — jargon for scrapping weapons and committing to inspections — but did restate a vaguer commitment, AFP saw in a photo of the document.
The just-signed document also commits US to 'security guarantees' and eyes establishment of "new US-DPRK relations".
9.47am
US President Donald Trump and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong Un, sign unspecified document in Singapore. During the signing ceremony, Kim said: “We’ve decided to leave the past behind. The world will see a major change." Asked about the denuclearisation issue, Trump said: "We’re starting that process very quicky.”
Trump calls the agreement "pretty comprehensive". Trump added: "We want to do something. We will do something. This is a very special bond."
Details of the text will be issued in 45 minutes, according to Trump.
9.17am
After their working lunch, US President Trump announced the signing ceremony with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but provided no details, saying only: "We're going to be announcing that in a couple of minutes."
At a meeting that could chart the course for historic peace or raise the specter of a growing nuclear threat, both leaders expressed optimism.
9.14am
President Donald Trump proclaimed Tuesday that his momentous summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un had gone "better than anybody could have expected" and announced that the leaders planned a signing ceremony shortly. He offered no details on what was being signed.
Meeting with staged ceremony on a Singapore island, Trump and Kim concluded a summit that seemed just unthinkable months ago, clasping hands before a row of alternating U.S. and North Korean flags, holding a one-on-one meeting, additional talks with advisers and a working lunch.
9.08am
President Donald Trump has given North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a rare peek inside the US presidential limousine. As the two leaders strolled around the grounds of the Singapore resort where they're having their summit Tuesday, they walked up to the US limousine nicknamed "The Beast".
Trump can be seen talking and gesturing before a Secret Service agent opens the door and the leaders look in. It wasn't immediately clear how Kim felt about the presidential tour, but he seemed to be smiling.
8.50am
US President Donald Trump, with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, announces they will "sign" an unspecified document shortly. "We're making progress...better than anybody could have expected," Trump told the media in Singapore while walking alongside KIm. "We're going to sign now." "I know that, together, we'll solve this big problem," he said.
What to expect from the Kim-Trump summit
8.11am
North Korean Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump now having a working lunch with their respective delegations following an extraordinary morning marked by their historic handshake and one-on-one meeting.
Prawns and Haagen Dazs on the menu: What they are eating
The main course may be hard-to-swallow denuclearisation, but Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un also had a heady mix of Yangzhou fried rice and a dark chocolate tartlet ganache on their plates during their historic summit on Tuesday.
8.01am
One goal of the Trump-Kim summit is to establish a relationship between the US and North Korea, though there are very contentious issues between the two sides, for example, on how they define "denuclearisation".
Many analysts say it's "too early to celebrate".
7.51am
US President Trump, North Korea's leader Kim appear relaxed during their meeting. Their respective delegations are about to have working lunch.
Western diplomats have already hailed the Trump-Kim summit as "historic, unprecedented", as did the North Korean media and US President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un shook hands, smiled at each other and met one-on-one for about 38-minutes.
7.30am
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, following his one-on-one meeting the US President Trump said: "We overcame old prejucides to get here today."
Many diplomats and analysts already "struck" by the fact that Trump and Kim are already "making history".
7.15am
US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un come out of one-on-one meeting, aided by interpreters, which lasted about 38 minutes. Delegations from both countries are having a closed-door meeting now.
7.09 am
The discussions will be "tremendously successful," US President Donald Trump said following the unprecedented handshake with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.
Kim for his part said: "Old practices were obstacles in our way forward."
6.57am
The summit so far ...
Amid heavy security on Singapore's Sentosa Island, Trump arrived first and then Kim for the US-North Korea summit.
After the historic handshake, the pair briefly spoke to reporters before engaging in a one-on-one meeting with only interpreters present.
They emerged from that meeting after 40 minutes, with Trump speaking positively on the nuclear issue. After a short walk together along a hotel veranda, they went into a larger meeting with several high-profile aides on both sides.
6.36am
Emotional Rodman says he received Trump call
Former NBA star Dennis Rodman says he received a call from the White House ahead of President Donald Trump’s historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Rodman told CNN from Singapore on Tuesday that a White House staffer called the former “Celebrity Apprentice” contestant to tell him the president was proud of him.
Dennis Rodman speaks to press as he walks through Singapore airport
Rodman struck up an unlikely friendship with Kim over their shared love of basketball, but he says former President Barack Obama never took him seriously.
Rodman described Kim as a “big kid” who wants to see the world. The former basketball player was very emotional in the interview, openly weeping as he spoke.
Rodman is in town for the summit, but the White House had said he will play no official role.
6.24am
Trump optimistic on nuclear issue
AP
President Donald Trump is sounding optimistic about his ability to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program after a lengthy one-on-one meeting with leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump said Tuesday at the beginning of expanded discussions with aides from both countries that “We will solve a big problem” and “a big dilemma.”
Trump and Kim walked together along a veranda after their one-on-one meeting.
He talked about the pair achieving “tremendous success together” and predicts that “it will be successful. It will be done.”
It was hard to hear the president and Kim over the constant clicking of camera shutters, and it remains unclear precisely what he was referring to.
But Kim appeared to echo the president’s optimism.
6.16am
Trump, Kim now in larger meeting with aides
Trump and Kim shake hands in a larger meeting taking place after their one-on-one meeting.
6.10am
Trump-Kim meeting comes to an end
AP
President Donald Trump says that his one-on-one meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was "very, very good" and that the two have an "excellent relationship."
Trump and Kim met for about 40 minutes Tuesday one-on-one, joined only by interpreters.
Trump and Kim emerge from their one-on-one meeting.
Trump made the comments as he and Kim walked together along balcony as they headed to a larger meeting with aides.
Trump was flanked in the larger meeting by chief of staff John Kelly, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton. They sat across the table from Kim and his team.
5.47am
The difficult second handshake
Trump and Kim shook hands for a second time after sitting down to briefly talk to the media.
You could call this 'the difficult second handshake'.
The two leaders shook hands again after sitting down.
5.33am
Trump predicts 'terrific relationship'
AP
President Donald Trump is predicting that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will have "a terrific relationship" as they meet face to face for the first time.
Trump said Tuesday after meeting Kim that he's feeling "really great." He says, "We're going to have a great discussion and a terrific relationship."
Kim says through an interpreter that it "was not easy to get here" and that there "were obstacles but we overcame them to be here."
The two men are expected to meet on their own for the better part of an hour, with only a pair of interpreters in the room.
That decision has raised concerns about the risk of holding such a monumental meeting with barely anyone to bear witness.
5.22am
More pictures of Trump and Kim
Kim’s smile was wider than Trump’s as the two shook hands.
The two leaders briefly spoke to the media before entering the summit room.
5.09am
Historic handshake, glimpse of smiles
AP
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shared a historic handshake as they met for the first time.
The two clasped hands for a long while Tuesday as they posed for photos in front of a row of US and North Korean flags. Trump then directed Kim to walk down a hallway, where they briefly spoke.
It’s the first ever meeting between a sitting US president and North Korean leader.
Trump and Kim arrived not long ago on Singapore’s Sentosa Island, the site of their unprecedented summit. It’s aimed at settling a standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.
The two will huddle alone for roughly 45 minutes before being joined by aides for a larger meeting and working lunch.
Trump has said he’ll know within minutes whether a deal can be made.
4.55am
Here's Kim exiting his vehicle
Kim Jong Un arrives at the summit location for the #TrumpKimSummit where denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula will be discussed. This will mark the first time a standing US president meets a N Korean leader pic.twitter.com/16yGHPjRyp
— Joseph Kim (@josungkim) June 12, 2018
4.46am
Kim has now also arrived at hotel
AP
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has arrived at Singapore's Sentosa Island, where he'll be meeting shortly face-to-face with President Donald Trump.
The two men are expected to share a handshake before they meet alone with a pair of interpreters for roughly 45 minutes while their entourages wait nearby.
A wide shot of the hotel, as Kim’s motorcade arrives
After the intimate huddle, they're scheduled to hold a larger meeting and working lunch. Trump's chief of staff, national security adviser and secretary of state are among those expected to join.
The meeting is the first sit-down between a sitting U.S. president and North Korean leader and is meant to settle a standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear program.
Trump earlier defended his decision to meet with Kim, tweeting that North Korea has already released three detainees and that missile tests have halted.
4.42am
Trump arrives at summit hotel
AP
President Donald Trump has arrived on Singapore's Sentosa Island for his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump's motorcade pulled into the grounds of the Capella Hotel at 8.13am Tuesday local time.
He is scheduled to meet Kim for the first time at 9am (5am UAE).
Kim is also en route to Sentosa Island for the meeting to discuss the fate of his country's nuclear weapons arsenal.
4.35am
The final touches
The position where Trump and Kim are due to shake hands gets a vacuum
The spot where Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un are due to shake hands in a matter of minutes is currently getting a final clean-up. The pair are due to perform the handshake against a backdrop of US and North Korean flags.
4.28am
Trump motorcade also on its way
Donald Trump’s motorcade in Singapore
Reuters
The motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump is on its way towards Sentosa for his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in Singapore
4.20am
Kim is on his way to summit venue
AP
Kim Jong Un’s convoy leaves hotel for Singapore resort where North Korean leader is to meet President Donald Trump.
4.17am
Trump to be interviewed on Fox after summit
AP
President Donald Trump is sitting down with Fox News host Sean Hannity after his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Fox News says the interview will take place Tuesday at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island in Singapore. Trump and Kim are set to meet on Sentosa Island on Tuesday morning for roughly 45 minutes while their entourages wait nearby.
Fox News says Trump will talk about the meeting with Kim and future relations between the two countries.
Hannity is a friend and confidant of the president and speaks out in support of Trump on his show.
3.54am
Dennis Rodman has arrived in Singapore
AP
Former NBA star Dennis Rodman has arrived in Singapore, hours before President Donald Trump is set to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the first time.
Rodman emerged from the baggage claim area at Changi airport around midnight Monday. He told reporters he wasn’t sure if he would meet Kim in Singapore.
Dennis Rodman speaks to press as he walks through Singapore airport
Last week, Rodman said he would “give whatever support is needed” to his “friends” Trump and Kim.
White House officials have said Rodman will play no official role in the diplomatic negotiations. Trump said last week that Rodman had not been invited to the summit.
He is one of the few westerners to have met the North Korean leader on visits to the capital city Pyongyang.
3.47am
Trump hits out at ‘haters & losers’
President Donald Trump says the “haters & losers” are complaining that his meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is a “major loss,” but he notes that the US has gotten its three captives returned and that the North’s nuclear missile launches have stopped.
Trump tweeted early Tuesday from Singapore, just hours before his face-to-face with Kim.
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
He says, “The fact that I am having a meeting is a major loss for the US, say the haters & losers.” But he says “our hostages” are back home and testing, research and launches have stopped.
He says, “These pundits, who have called me wrong from the beginning, have nothing else they can say!”
Critics have argued that Kim has notched a win by getting a sit-down with the US president.
3.11am
Nuclear deal? ‘We will all know soon’
AP
President Donald Trump says “we will all know soon” whether he can reach a deal with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to end its nuclear programme.
Trump is tweeting hours before the leaders’ historic face-to-face that, “Meetings between staffs and representatives are going well and quickly.”
Meetings between staffs and representatives are going well and quickly....but in the end, that doesn’t matter. We will all know soon whether or not a real deal, unlike those of the past, can happen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2018
But he says that, “in the end, that doesn’t matter. We will all know soon whether or not a real deal, unlike those of the past, can happen!”
Before leaving Washington for Singapore, Trump said his gut instincts will guide him when he gets into the room with Kim.
He told reporters he’ll know almost immediately whether a deal can be made, saying: “I will know, just my touch, my feel. That’s what I do.”
Their meeting is scheduled for 9am Singapore time (5am UAE).
2.55am
Trump and Kim to meet one-on-one
AP
For the better part of an hour, President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will square off one on one, alone but for a pair of translators. That’s raising concerns about the risk of holding such a monumental meeting with barely anyone to bear witness.
Trump and Kim will meet on Singapore’s Sentosa Island for roughly 45 minutes while their entourages wait nearby.
The huddle will come before a larger meeting and a working lunch attended by top advisers to the president and their North Korean counterparts.
Word of the private meeting unleashed a torrent of criticism on social media from national security veterans who worry the lack of a transcript will create a he-said-he-said showdown that could turn into a major headache for Trump.
2.52am
Preview: Trump, Kim to meet for historic handshake
AFP
Singapore: Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un will make history on Tuesday, becoming the first 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.
Trump called on the international community to exert “maximum pressure” to buckle Kim’s 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”.
On the eve of the summit, Trump — who is due to leave Singapore on Tuesday evening — said optimistically: “I just think it’s going to work out very nicely.”
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 1950s 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 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.
