Trump and Kim Jong Un: Friends or Frenemies?
President Trump traveled all the way to North Korea to continue his unlikely friendship with Kim Jong Un. Here's the full story of how he became the first sitting president to cross the DMZ.
How did we get here?
President Trump stepped into North Korea to meet with Kim Jong Un a second time. Donald Trump also became the first U.S. president to step into North Korea Sunday, reaching across the demarcation line to shake hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and then, at Kim's invitation, stepping across the border and into North Korea -- in a historic moment Trump called "a great honor."
In 2017 Trump and Kim trade threats in an escalating war of words. That year, the world had witnessed President Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un trading barbs that, while included nicknames and new vocabulary words, also openly suggest war and destruction. After months of talks Trump and Kim meet face to face in Singapore. The two leaders met in a room with North Korean and American flags that looked much like the setting of their first meeting in Singapore. When asked if the pair would reach a peace deal, Trump told the press corps, “We’ll see.” He reiterated that he and the leader of the isolated state have a “great relationship,” but when asked if he would be backing down from pursuing complete denuclearization of North Korea, he simply said, “No,” and left it at that.
In 2019 Trump and Kim meet again in Hanoi, Vietnam. This second round of talks in Vietnam comes eight months after all eyes focused on Trump and Kim’s historic first meeting in June – an easing of hostilities following an escalation of rhetoric from both sides. But the outcome from that first meeting was largely symbolic. The two leaders vaguely agreed to work toward denuclearizing the Korean peninsula, without outlining a path to achieve that elusive goal, or even clarifying what exactly the thorny wording “denuclearize” entails. Trump, who has pledged to solve the North Korea problem, says the potential for making a more substantive agreement with the reclusive kingdom in Vietnam is “awesome.” The meeting was cut short before any deal could be reached.
On June 30th, 2019 Trump became the first U.S. President to step foot into North Korea for meeting #3
Brut.
