The critics said this meeting would never happen, then they said that it was a mistake because Kim Jong-un would only use it for a photo-op with the President of the United States.

Well they were completely wrong on the first critique and only time will tell if they were wrong or correct on the 2nd critique.

Everyone around the world who actually does not have a political agenda wanted and hoped, dare I say prayed for a summit between the leaders of the Unites States and North Korea.  Why, because it what was needed to start down a road of denuclearizing North Korea and bringing them into the world economy as well as normalizing relations between North Korea and the rest of the world.

Remember this is something that the world wanted and needed, it was not something that only the United States wanted and needed.  I would bet my last dollar that South Korea and Japan wanted and needed this summit to occur much more than the United States.

Well that summit happened and it happened because of one person and that person is President Donald J. Trump.   That does not mean that others did not help President Trump make this summit happen, certainly the South Korean President Moon Jae-in and possibly the leader of China.  We have to admit though that if it was not for President Trump this summit would never had happened.  Maybe his “different” techniques do really work.

That does not mean that we all now believe what the leader of North Korean says or commits to, as President Reagan once famously said “Trust but Verify”.

What did the two leaders agree upon? Well the following is the exact text from the document, published by CNBC that was signed by the two leaders:

Joint Statement of President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea at the Singapore Summit

President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) held a first, historic summit in Singapore on June 12, 2018.

President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un conducted a comprehensive, in-depth, and sincere exchange of opinions on the issues related to the establishment of new U.S.-DPRK relations and the building of a lasting and robust peace regime on the Korean Peninsula. President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the DPRK, and Chairman Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Convinced that the establishment of new U.S.-DPRK relations will contribute to the peace and prosperity of the Korean Peninsula and of the world, and recognizing that mutual confidence building can promote the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un state the following:

  1. The United States and the DPRK commit to establish new U.S.-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.
  2. The United States and the DPRK will join their efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.
  3. Reaffirming the April 27, 2018 Panmunjom Declaration, the DPRK commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
  4. The United States and the DPRK commit to recovering POW/MIA remains, including the immediate repatriation of those already identified.

Having acknowledged that the U.S.-DPRK summit — the first in history — was an epochal event of great significance in overcoming decades of tensions and hostilities between the two countries and for the opening up of a new future, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un commit to implement the stipulations in this joint statement fully and expeditiously. The United States and the DPRK commit to hold follow-on negotiations, led by the U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and a relevant high-level DPRK official, at the earliest possible date, to implement the outcomes of the U.S.-DPRK summit.

President Donald J Trump of the United States of America and Chairman Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have committed to cooperate for the development of new U.S.-DPRK relations and for the promotion of peace, prosperity, and security of the Korean Peninsula and of the world.

President Trump told reporters at the summit site, the Capella Hotel:

We are prepared to start a new history and we are prepared to write a new chapter between our nations

The leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un thanked President Trump for the summit and stated:

Today, we had a historic meeting and decided to leave the past behind and we are about to sign the historic document…The world will see a major change

Will the world see “a major change”?  Maybe, but it all has to start with a meeting where the leaders agree to something and then the real hard work starts.  That hard work will take years and if we will be able to have an unbiased verification process in place to verify North Korea is sticking to their promises then this summit and deal will probably be one of the greatest accomplishments of a United States President since President Reagan’s summit with the Soviet Union to end the cold war.

Could the people of the world wanted anymore then what was agreed upon and the words spoken by these two leaders.  My thought is no, yes words are empty unless backed up with verifiable actions, but you must first start with words.

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