US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed an agreement on Tuesday pledging to support a peaceful resolution to seven decades of hostilities between the two countries and a de-escalation of nuclear tensions.
Under the agreement, the US committed to provide security guarantees to its old enemy while North Korea “commits to work towards complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”.
That provision falls short of the hoped-for “complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearisation” of North Korea that had been urged by the US and its allies in the build-up to Tuesday’s talks.
Trump defended the agreement at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, saying both he and Kim are committed to its provisions.
“Today is the beginning of an arduous process,” Trump told reporters. “Our eyes are wide open, but peace is always worth the effort, especially in this case.”
Trump said economic sanctions against the country will remain in effect until North Korea reverses its nuclear programme, and added there are no short-term plans to reduce the number of US troops – some 28,500 – stationed in South Korea.
Trump and Kim capped a one-day peace summit by signing the agreement without immediately disclosing the terms. Trump stayed on to detail the agreement at a later news conference while Kim left the summit for a return flight to Pyongyang.
Source: Al Jazeera News