SINGAPORE: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday (Jun 12) reaffirmed his “firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”.
This was stated in the joint document signed by Mr Kim and US President Donald Trump at their historic summit in Singapore.
Mr Trump, on his part, committed to provide security guarantees to North Korea. The document did not state what those guarantees might be.
It made no mention of demands made by the US previously for “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation”.
The document laid out the following key points:
- US and North Korea commit to establish new US-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.
- The two countries will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.
- Reaffirming the April 27, 2018 Panmunjom Declaration, North Korea commits to work towards the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
- US and North Korea commit to recovering remains of prisoners of war including the immediate repatriation of those already identified.
The document stated that follow-on negotiations led by the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and a relevant high-level North Korean official will be arranged “at the earliest possible date” to implement the outcomes of the Singapore summit.
Before both leaders proceeded to sign the document, at the Capella hotel in Sentosa, Mr Trump said their meeting went “better than expected and no one could’ve expected this”.
US President Donald Trump holds up a document signed by him and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un following a signing ceremony during their historic US-North Korea summit. (Photo: AFP/Saul Loeb)
Mr Kim said the “world will now see a major change”.
“We had a historic meeting and we’ve decided to leave the past behind,” he added. “The world will see a major change. I would like to express my gratitude to President Donald Trump for making this happen.”
