Watch the historical moment in the video below.
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In a historic moment, Donald Trump stepped into North Korea, becoming the first US president to do so.
Trump was there at the demarcation line just for a hand-shake with Kim Jong Un. Unexpectedly, Kim invited the US president to step across the border in a moment Trump called “a great honor.”
Speaking through a translator, the North Korean leader said Trump’s decision to enter his country was a “courageous and determined act.”
“I just want to thank you, it was very quick notice and I just want to thank you,” Trump replied. “Good to see you again, I never expected to see you in this place,” Kim said.
The two of them then headed into a nearby building for a bilateral meeting.
“Tremendous positivity, really great things are happening,” Trump said after the meeting which went on for around 45 minutes in the Freedom House.
“We met and we liked each other from day one and that was very important.”
After the meeting, Kim accompanied Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in back to the demarcation line, and bid them farewell.
While Trump was in the Freedom House, he declared that it was a “great” and “legendary” day, and revealed that the US and North Korea will restart negotiations for a comprehensive agreement.
Trump said the negotiations from the US would be led by Steve Biegun, US special representative for North Korea.
“We just had a very, very good meeting with Chairman Kim and we’ve agreed that we’re going to designate a team, and the team will try and work out some deals, and again speed is not the object, we want to see if we can do a really comprehensive good deal,” Trump said.
“Nobody knows how things go, but certainly this was a great day. This was a very legendary, very historic day.”
“It will be more historic if something comes of it, something very important, but a lot has already come of it,” he said, before claiming that the relations with North Korea were a “fiery mess” during the Obama administration.
During the bilateral meeting, Kim said: “If it was not for the excellent relationship between us, it would not have been possible.”
Trump complimented Kim, saying he had a strong voice.
“You hear the power of that voice, nobody’s heard the voice before, he doesn’t do news conferences, in case you haven’t noticed, and this was a special moment,” he said.
“This is an historic moment, the fact that we’re meeting.”
The US president then thanked his North Korean counterpart for accepting his invitation to meet at the demarcation line, because “if he didn’t show up, the press was going to make us both look bad.”
“You made us both look good and I appreciate it,” he said.
“It was an honor that you asked me to step over that line, and I was proud to step over that line. I thought you might do that, I wasn’t sure, but I was ready to do it, and I want to thank you, it was great, very historic.”
Trump announced that he was going to visit the demilitarized zone between the two Korean countries at a joint press conference with the South Korean leader just hours before he met Kim.
“I’ll be meeting with Chairman Kim I look forward to it very much. I look forward to seeing him, we’ve developed a very good relationship,” he said.
“We understand each other. I do believe he understands me and I think I maybe understand him. And sometimes that can lead to very good things.”
“I put out the word and he got back, and he wanted to do it from the beginning and so did I,” he continued.
Speaking of his last-minute invite to Kim to meet at the border, Trump said it was “something I planned long ago, but had the idea yesterday, to maybe, say ‘hello,’ just shake and quickly say ‘hello.'”
When asked if there will be another summit, Trump said: “Let’s see what happens today before we start thinking about that.”
Trump also claimed that former US President Barack Obama sought to meet Kim but the North Korean leader stood him up.
He said: “The Obama administration was begging for a meeting, there were begging for meetings constantly, and Chairman Kim would not meet him.”
The president also said that he would invite the North Korean leader to visit him at the White House.