Korea summit: Trump hails 'end of the Korean war' - as it happened
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Kim Jong-un and the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, have come face to face at the inter-Korean meeting in the demilitarised zone. Follow all the developments and reaction with our live blog
All the key players in the region have welcomed the agreement including China and Japan. Russia’s Foreign Ministry says it is ready to facilitate cooperation between North and South Korea.
During the closed-door morning meeting, the two leaders discussed denuclearisation and rebuilding relations. Both Kim and Moon expressed a desire for future meet-ups, and Moon hailed it as a “very good discussion”.
After breaking for lunch, Moon and Kim were involved in the ceremonial planting of a tree dating from 1953, the year the Korean war ended. After a discussion in the gardens of Peace House, and another closed-door meeting, Kim and Moon signed the Panmunjom Declaration.
The declaration also agreed to help unite families divided between North and South. And Moon agreed to visit Pyongyang, North Korea, in the Autumn
Russia’s Foreign Ministry says it is ready to facilitate cooperation between North and South Korea, including in the fields of railway transportation, gas and electrical energy, Reuters reports.
More from Trump. In his latest tweet he hails the declaration to end the Korean in characteristic all-caps mode.
South Korea’s foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha told CNN that “clearly credit goes to President Trump” for bringing North Korea to the negotiating table. “He’s been determined to come to grips with this from day one,” she said.
Cheng Xiaohe, an associate professor at the School of International Studies at Renmin University in Beijing who focuses on North Korea issues said the main accomplishment of the summit was improving ties between North and South Korea.
“The main characters are DPRK and South Korea,” he said. “Today’s summit was a giant step to improving the relation between DPRK and South Korea.”
Cheng said that China made an effort not to distract from the meeting today. Chinese president Xi Jinping met Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, but Chinese media were restrained in reporting much about that meeting.
But there are still big challenges. Cheng said Kim still needs to show real willingness to dismantle the country’s nuclear programme and specify under what conditions that can happen. “Today’s summit is a step towards denuclearisation, but it’s hard to call it a giant step,” he said.
“(They) announced a joint declaration on their common understanding of inter-Korean relations, easing military tension on the Korean Peninsula, denuclearizing the peninsula and a permanent peace.”
“The positive outcome of the summit is helpful for inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation, peace and stability on the peninsula and the political resolution of Korean Peninsula issues.”
Broadcaster and former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, one of the few people Trump follows on Twitter, has quipped that the US president could get the Nobel Prize for his role in the Korean summit.
Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe has welcomed the summit, but urged Pyongyang to take “concrete action” on the peninsula’s denuclearisation and other issues.
“Today President Moon Jae-in and Chairman Kim Jong Un held earnest discussions about North Korea’s denuclearisation. I want to welcome that as a positive move toward comprehensive resolution of various issues concerning North Korea,” Abe told reporters in Tokyo, according to AFP.
“We strongly hope that North Korea will take concrete action through this meeting and a summit between the US and North Korea,” he added.
Today’s meeting represents one of the sharpest and speediest diplomatic turnarounds in living memory, writes Guardian commentator Mary Dejevsky in her first thoughts on the summit.
The Kremlin has praised the Korean summit as “very positive news”, saying direct dialogue on the divided peninsula was promising.
“This is very positive news,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The Russian news agency Tass quoted him saying: “In this case we positively regard the meeting itself between the two Koreas’ leaders and the declared outcome of the negotiations.”
Here’s an English translation of three-page joint declaration agreed by Kim and Moon.
Here are key passages
The two leaders solemnly declared before the 80 million Korean people and the whole world that there will be no more war on the Korean Peninsula and thus a new era of peace has begun.
South and North Korea confirmed the common goal of realising, through complete denuclearisation, a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. South and North Korea shared the view that the measures being initiated by North Korea are very meaningful and crucial for the denuclearisation of he Korean peninsula and agreed to carry our their respective roles and responsibilities in this regard. South and North Korea agreed to actively seek the support and cooperation of the international community for the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
After a riveting and surprisingly jovial 10 hours, I am handing over the liveblog to my colleagues in London for the final moments of the summit.
A summary of today’s events:
In a historic moment, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met for the first time, shaking hands at the demarcation line between North and South.
At Kim’s beckoning, President Moon briefly stepped over into the North side, a highly symbolic moment.
Before going into their meeting in Peace House, on the South Korean side of the border, Kim signed a message in the guest book proclaiming a “new era of peace”
During the closed-door morning meeting, the pair discussed denuclearisation and rebuilding relations. Both Kim and Moon expressed a desire for future meet-ups, and Moon hailed it as a “very good discussion”.
Moon said that the “weight on our shoulders is heavy” but said the conference would be a “gift to the world”.
After breaking for lunch, Moon and Kim were involved in the ceremonial planting of a tree dating from 1953, the year the Korean war ended.
After a discussion in the gardens of Peace House, and another closed-door meeting, Kim and Moon signed a joint statement, the Panmunjom Declaration.
They pledged to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula, bring an end to the Korean War and help unite families divided between North and South.
Moon will visit Pyongyang, North Korea, in the Autumn
The leaders and their wives have now headed to a three hour finale banquet
While the exact details of how denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula will be carried out, the pledge will be important in getting Trump to agree to another summit next month.
Trump said yesterday he would only meet Kim if he thought their meeting would be “fruitful”- which would mean North Korea agreeing to give up their nuclear programme entirely.
Kim and Moon’s address outside Peace House also saw the leaders pledge to jointly push for talks with the United States, and potentially China in order to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War, which stopped in an armistice and left the Koreas still technically at war.