That’s all from us for today. Read the full story on Trump and Kim’s meeting here:
Thanks for following along.
Updated
Summary
- Donald Trump has invited Kim Jong-un to visit the US during talks at Korean peninsula’s demilitarised zone after he became the first American president to step onto North Korean soil.
- The meeting was organised yesterday, both leaders confirmed, after Trump tweeted Kim Jong-un suggesting they meet and “say Hello(?)!” while Trump was in the region for the G20 summit in Osaka.
- Trump travelled to the DMZ with South Korean leader Moon Jae-in, while the three had an hour-long tri-lateral meeting at Peace House.
- Trump said the meeting was “very historic” and criticised those who said that nothing had been come about from his two summits with Kim, which occurred last June and earlier this year.
- Trump announced that new teams would be set up by the three parties to the negotiations. Asked by journalists if he believed that North Korea’s previous negotiators were still alive, he replied: “I think so.”
Updated
Ivanka Trump had a slightly less glowing take than her father on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea after she and her husband, Jared Kushner, stepped out of one of the blue houses alongside the demarcation line.
“How was North Korea?” she was asked by Margaret Talev from Bloomberg.
“Surreal” answered the US president’s daughter.
Updated
With the dust settling on panmunjom, there’s time now to pick up on some of the other subplots and details, in particular the cast-list of who else was present.
According to Anna Fifield, Beijing bureau chief for the Washington Post, those on the sidelines for the handshake included: Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, the US conservative commentator and broadcaster Tucker Carlson, North Korean foreign minister Ri Yong Ho and his deputy Choe Song Hui, as well as the North Korean singer and Hyon Song Wol.
Steve Mnuchin, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner -- surrounding by North Koreans -- waiting outside "Freedom House" in the Korean DMZ for the Donald Trump-Kim Jong Un meeting to end. pic.twitter.com/f3qCkeKHoi
— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) June 30, 2019
Updated
After announcing that the sides would be setting up new teams to take forward negotiations, Trump was asked during the press conference if he believed that North Korea’s previous negotiators were still alive.
“I think they are.. I know one of them is alive,” he replied.
Meanwhile, Trump talked up the fact that there has been no recent ballistic missile tests by North Korea.
There had been some “very small ones” - he added, but theres were missile tests which “practically every country does.”
“We don’t consider that a test. We are talking about long range missile tests.”
Trump invites Kim to the US
Trump says that he invited Kim Jong-un to visit the US “when the time is right.”
That bit of news - surely the cushions are being plumped up already in Mar-a-Lago - came towards the end of the short press conference he gave alongside the South Korean president.
It looks like Trump also indicated that he was prepared to take up an invite to go to Pyongyang.
Trump said that he had told Kim: “You know what? At the right time you are going to come over. We are going to to go over there. I would certainly extend the invite.
Trump also said that it was he would suggested that he walk across the DMZ into North Korea.
The US president asked Kim if he would like him to cross over and the reply was that he would be honoured.
Updated
Moon maintained a poker face as Trump segued into a criticism of the previous White House administration
“It was a fiery mess. Bad things were going on,” added the president.
After Moon spoke, Trump said that he wanted to thank Kim for saving him the media going after him if the North Korean leader had not taken up the Trump administration: “Had he decided not to come you would have hit me, hit me hard.
“I want to thank him for doing it at such quick notice. We moved mountains.”
“In the meantime there has been no nuclear tests, there has been no nuclear missiles”
Trump addes that he’s going to go off an speak with US troops now at a nearby military base.
Updated
Trump is speaking to the press now alongside Moon Jae-in, the president of South Korea.
It’s a mixture of his usual shots at the media for supposedly not reporting things accurately, and salvos at the Obama administration.
If there’s a hint at anything significant, it’s that he says the three parties to the meeting have agreed that teams will be set up now - the US will have one under the auspices of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - “to start working to see if they can do something.”
Trump began by saying “Nobody know show things turn out but certainly this was very legendary, a very historic day.”
“It will be even more historic if something comes up.”
Meeting ends after an hour
The three leaders - Trump and the leaders of North and South Korea - have now emerged after more than an hour in talks.
Here’s a bit of snatched audio from that rather crowded encounter outside between Trump and Kim earlier, with a suggestion that the North Korean leader has invited his US counterpart to come and visit in the DPRK’s capital
It sounds like Kim invited Trump to Pyongyang. Difficult to hear on this clip, but I believe the translator is saying: "...and when the time is right and President Trump has the chance to visit Pyongyang" and then Kim says "I'm confident such a day will come" pic.twitter.com/tvyOhG1ic8
— Martyn Williams (@martyn_williams) June 30, 2019
Some more snippets from that bilateral meeting at the Freedom House between Trump and Kim, via the latest take from the White House press pool.
Journalists were ushered into a “chaotic bilat” at the Freedom House, here Kim Jong Un and POTUS sat in front of the room, reports Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post
Speaking through an interpreter, Kim talked of “willing to put an end to the unfortunate past.”
If not for the “excellent relations between the two of us” this opportunity would not be possible, he added.
Trump told the room: “You hear the power of that voice” referring to Kim. Noted “he doesn’t do news conferences.”
“Thus is a historic moment, the fact that we’re meeting.”
He went on: “You made us both look good” with this meeting. We’ve developed a great relationship.”
The two leaders then shook hands and the press were ushered out.
This is Ben Quinn picking up the blog from Kate.
Summary
- Donald Trump has met with Kim Jong-un in the demilitarised zone and has become the first US president to step onto North Korean soil, after Kim invited Trump to step over the demarcation line into North Korean territory.
- The meeting was organised yesterday, both leaders confirmed, after Trump tweeted Kim Jong-un suggesting they meet and “say Hello(?)!” while Trump was in the region for the G20 summit in Osaka.
- Trump travelled to the DMZ with South Korean leader Moon Jae-in, the three were expected to have a tri-lateral meeting at Peace House, but Trump and Kim appeared at a press conference without Moon, raising questions about how involved the South Korean leader would be in any discussions.
- Trump said the meeting was “very historic” and criticised those who said that nothing had been come about from his two summits with Kim, which occurred last June and earlier this year.
- Trump said he would be willing to invite Kim to the White House “right now”
Devastating analysis from Victor Cha, a professor at Georgetown University, who calls this “reality TV” and “faked diplomacy” that gives US, South Korea and North Korea “trivial domestic kudos while legitimizing the [human rights] abusing/nuke regime”.
@realDonaldTrump crossed into North Korea this morning EST. It’s only “historic” if it leads to denuke negotiations, a verifiable agreement and a peace treaty. Otherwise it’s just some nice pics and pageantry.
— Victor Cha (@VictorDCha) June 30, 2019
#breaking A source on the scene with Trump and Kim tells @Acosta the new WH press Secretary Stephanie Grisham got into “an all out brawl” with North Korean officials hustling WH press pool members into the room with Trump and Kim for their meeting, and was bruised up. Tough job.
— Will Ripley (@willripleyCNN) June 30, 2019
There was a lot of jostling in the press pack as they attempted to cover the meeting. A female voice could be heard repeatedly saying “Please stop it, don’t do that.” Though it is unclear who that was, as she wasn’t in shot, and if that event is connected to the alleged Grisham event reported by Jim Acosta from CNN.
As well as Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Fox News’s Tucker Carlson was present in the White House pool.
In the room: N. Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho (left) and Tucker Carlson. pic.twitter.com/KrmTOEBiZf
— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) June 30, 2019
Donald Trump: "When I put out the social media notification, if he didn't show up, the press was going to make me look very bad, so you made us both look good and I appreciate it." pic.twitter.com/AV3dtspSw3
— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) June 30, 2019
A reminder of that social media invitation from Trump :
After some very important meetings, including my meeting with President Xi of China, I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon). While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2019
We have this pool report from a reporter on the ground with the president.
At 3:44pm, POTUS walked out of Freedom House, together with President Moon, towards the military demarcation line between South and North Korea, located between the two famous blue huts.
The North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, wearing his traditional Mao suit, was walking down the stairs towards him on the Northern side of the line.
At 3:45pm, the two leaders shook hands over the concrete slab that forms the military demarcation line between South and North Korea.
“Good to see you again”, said Kim in English, adding that he would have “never expected” to see POTUS “at this place”.
At 3:46pm, POTUS crossed the line, becoming the first sitting US president to step into North Korea.
He then walked a few meters into the North together with Kim.
“Good progress, good progress”, he said as the two leaders crossed back to the South.
The two leaders are now holding a bilateral meeting in The Freedom House on the South Korean side.
There is some discussion about the fact that this is supposed to be a tri-lateral meeting between Donald Trump, Kim Jong-un and South Korean leader Moon Jae-in. All three leaders went into the building together, but only Kim and Trump fronted the cameras for that press conference. It is unclear whether Moon will join them for the rest of the meeting.
Trump is speaking now. He comments on the fact that we are hearing from Kim directly.
“You hear that voice, no one hears this voice, he doesn’t do press conferences.”
Trump says he wants to thank Kim for responding to his Twitter invitation to meet.
“If he didn’t show up the press was going to make me look very bad,” says Trump.
“If you look back two-and-a-half years, before I was president, it was a very very bad situation, a very dangerous situation for North Korea, South Korea, for the world. The relationship we have developed has been so much for so many people,” says Trump.
“Thank you for asking me to step over that line, I didn’t know if you were going to ask me to do that, I thought you might, but I was ready to do that if you asked.”
Trump calls the meeting “very historic”.
“The great relationship between President Trump and I, I don’t think if we didn’t have such a great relationship we could have organised this meeting in just a day. I would like to use this strong relationship to create more good news that nobody expects,” says Kim.
Kim confirms he heard from Trump yesterday afternoon and wanted to meet him again.
“I believe that meeting here, which is a symbol of division and a hostile past, I think meeting here, two countries that have a hostile past, we are showcasing to the world that we have a new present and we have a positive meeting going forward,” says Kim.
Trump and Kim are inside now, seated in front of a row of flags. Kim is speaking, will have the translation soon.
Standing with Trump on the southern side of the DMZ, Kim said. “President Trump just crossed became first US president to visit our country. This is an expression of his willingness to eliminate the aggression of the past and open a new future.”
Trump responded: “This is my honour. I didn’t expect it. Stepping across that line was a great honour – a lot of progress has been made and this is a great friendship. It was short notice so I want to thank you,” he said, gesturing to Kim. “We’re going to go and talk for a while. A lot of positive things are happening … we met and we liked each other from day one. and that’s very important.”
And the press conference has actually wrapped up this time and Trump and Kim are heading inside a building for discussions.
Trump is still talking.
“When I became president of the US, there was great great conflict, now there is less conflict,” he says. “It’s my great honour and the Chairman’s honour.”
Updated
‘Stepping across that line is a great honour,’ says Trump
Trump is speaking now, standing alongside Chairman Kim.
“I just want to say this is my honour,” he says.
“Stepping across that line is a great honour, great progress has been made, great friendships have been made and this has been, in particular, a great friendship.”
Trump has thanked Kim for being available to meet at such short notice, saying he called him up yesterday.
“We met and we liked each other from day one, and that is very important.”
The press conference has finished up, Trump says he and Kim are going inside to talk for a little while. A reporter asks whether Kim will come to the US any time soon.
“I would invite him right now,” Trump says.
Views from the North pic.twitter.com/hedUvpCdCN
— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) June 30, 2019
Donald Trump has become the first US president to set foot on North Korean soil
Donald Trump has crossed the demarcation line onto North Korean soil.
This is huge, as Julian Borger writes:
“Donald Trump has become the first incumbent US president to cross, even if it turns out to be only a few inches, into North Korea. It has a particular symbolic importance to the Kim regime, and is a sign of the country’s normalisation and status in the world as a power among world powers. Bill Clinton came close to visiting in his last couple of months in office, but decided against it, after it was clear in 2000 that George W Bush had been elected as his successor. Clinton felt he could not lock Bush into a peace process the latter would not support.
“Jimmy Carter visited Kim’s father Kim Il-sung in 1994 in pursuit of a diplomatic breakthrough, but he went as a former president.”
Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un meet
The US president has met with the North Korean leader in a hastily-arranged handshake meeting.
Trump confirmed on Sunday that while the visit to the demilitarised zone has been scheduled for several months, he called up Kim yesterday to set up the brief meeting. Trump is in the region for the G20 meeting in Osaka.
The meeting is just a greeting between the two leaders, and it is not expected that the two leaders will hold long talks today.
Arirang News in South Korea is quoting sources as saying that Trump, Kim and Moon have already met at the DMZ. Though they also say: “We are also not really sure what is going on right now.”
It’s a weird afternoon. We’ll let you know as soon as we have confirmation of that meeting.
So we are now just waiting for Donald Trump’s handshake meeting with Kim Jong-un, which Trump said would happen in four minutes (roughly 10 minutes ago).
Confirmation that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are in the DMZ with the president.
Yeah, Javanka there. Iron-clad stares. https://t.co/CqTunSPTDI pic.twitter.com/8Nfs6JgosG
— Melissa Hanham (@mhanham) June 30, 2019
Trump is greeting military personnel. This event is taking place at a base in the DMZ. He is now signing the wall of the base, in keeping with tradition.
“Yesterday, I had the idea, maybe I’ll call Chairman Kim…We respect each other, might even like each other,” Trump told the gathered military personnel and press.
Trump has been presented with a golf shirt and cap with his name on it from a US military leader, in appreciation of his work for peace in the region.
Donald Trump says this visit was organised several months ago when he told Moon he would like to visit the DMZ. But says that the meeting with Kim Jong-un was only organised yesterday. “So we didn’t give him much notice,” he says.
He says the meeting with Kim will take place in about four minutes, so he needs to cut his remarks short.
President Moon says we will witness an even more momentous event today.
He says these great changes, from the DMZ being a place of hostility to peace is due to President Trump, whom he praises as “the president of all of you”.
President Moon Jae-in is speaking now in a meeting with Donald Trump and military personnel. The South Korean president thanks the personnel for keeping Korea safe and says this is a historic meeting, the first time that the US president and South Korean president have ever been in the DMZ together.
Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and senior aide, is also in the DMZ and has signalled her willingness to cross into North Korea if invited.
Ivanka Trump says she will “absolutely” step over border at DMZ into North Korea today, “if I was invited.”
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) June 30, 2019
“We need to continue that dialogue to work in good faith to realize that goal (of denuclearization). Today is another step in that direction,” she told me. pic.twitter.com/JSjwd1glfi
Interesting analysis from Frank Jannuzi, formerly of the state department, in response to Trump’s comment that “all of the danger went away” after the first summit between the two leaders last June.
Since the first summit, DPRK has probably produced enough fissile material (HEU) for 8-10 more nuclear weapons....while also testing a short-range solid fuel rocket that could be nuclear capable and hard for US missile defenses to knock down.
— Frank Jannuzi (@FrankJannuzi) June 30, 2019
‘After our first summit all of the danger went away,’ Trump addresses press in DMZ
“It used to be dangerous, very, very dangerous. After our first summit all of the danger went away,” Trump said, while addressing press in the DMZ.
Trump criticised the press for their coverage of his summits with Kim Jong-un, particularly the most recent summit in Hanoi, which ended suddenly without an agreement. “They have no appreciation for what we’ve done,” he said.
“I would say to people who say nothing has been accomplished, so much was accomplished,” he said.
Trump could soon become the first sitting president to complain about the free press while in North Korea https://t.co/jPSQmXdlsT
— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) June 30, 2019
Trump was told that around 25 million people, including 10 million in the Seoul greater metropolitan area, are within range of North Korean artillery along the northern side of the DMZ.
“There’s nothing like that anywhere, in terms of danger,” Trump said. “But it’s all working out,” he added in a reference to his dialogue with Kim Jong-un. “It always works out.”
While at the observation post, Trump’s military minder pointed out the Kaesong industrial complex, a joint North-South venture where tens of thousands of North Korean workers made products, including clothes and watches, for more than 100 South Korean companies.
The complex’s fate has always been closely linked to the health of cross-border ties. It was closed by South Korea’s conservative government in 2016 in protest at North Korean nuclear test and missile launches. Seoul said profits from Kaesong were funding Pyongyang’s military programmes.
The current South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, a liberal, would like to reopen Kaesong to encourage the North to make nuclear concessions, but restarting the complex is complicated by international economic sanctions against the regime in Pyongyang.
It’s unclear where Trump is going now and when and where he will be meeting with Kim Jong-un.
Trump is speaking to press. He says that much has been accomplished in improving the North Korean and US relationship due to his meetings with Kim Jong-un.
“I would say to people who say nothing has been accomplished, so much was accomplished,” he said.
“It’s all working out, it always works out.”
And Trump has left the observation tower.
A reminder that this issue has been a key branding point for Donald Trump who hails his meetings with Kim Jong-un (particularly the first meeting in Singapore last year) as one of the great achievements of his presidency.
Footage from that meeting has featured in many of the video packages produced by the president’s team, that resemble movie trailers, selling Trump’s achievements. Looks like we might expect today’s meeting to feature in the next video.
Trump's WH director of social media is on the trip to DMZ. Expect rapid turnaround video package of the 'handshake for peace' with KJU. https://t.co/SawW6zIC1H
— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) June 30, 2019
Is this meeting significant?
At a press conference an hour and a half ago South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in said the meeting represented a “big hope to everyone”.
Speaking alongside Trump at the start of their bilateral talks, Moon said even a handshake and brief encounter between Trump and Kim “would be a significant milestone in the peace process on the Korean peninsula”.
Moon, who has travelled with Trump to the DMZ, added that he could “really feel that the flower of peace was truly blossoming on the Korean peninsula.”
He later told a joint press conference that he was “overwhelmed” with emotion about the meeting at the border village of Panmunjom. He described Trump and Kim as “so brave” adding, “I hope President Trump will go down in history as the president who achieves peace on Korean peninsula.”
This is the third time the two leaders have met. The first was in Singapore last June. They met again in February this year in Hanoi, but the meeting ended abruptly without progress.
Associated Press is saying that the meeting between the two leaders is not as impromptu as it has been presented.
From AP: “Despite Trump’s comments Saturday, he had told The Hill newspaper in Washington in an interview this past week that he would be visiting the DMZ and “might” meet with Kim. The paper reported it had withheld Trump’s comments, citing security concerns by the White House.”
Trump is flanked by a large number of aides and military personnel and South Korean president Moon Jae-in. He is currently looking out over the DMZ from a bunker and being shown the landscape.
Donald Trump and Moon Jae-in peering over into the North.https://t.co/4F6FVTN4a0 pic.twitter.com/xXyjaEIOHb
— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) June 30, 2019
Updated
Donald Trump arrives at demilitarised zone to meet with Kim Jong-un
Donald Tump has arrived in the DMZ for this fairly impromptu meeting with the chairman of North Korea. They are expected to shake hands and say hello, but not have any full-length talks.
Updated
The president’s motorcade is pulling up now.
The live-stream embedded at the top of the Guardian’s liveblog is making for some interesting listening at the moment.
Reporters are preparing to get footage of the president’s arrival and greeting of the North Korean leader. However, they are being given strict instructions about what they are and are not allowed to film and photograph. “The boundary is the tower, do not film anything past that tower,” a minder’s voice is heard saying in English.
This is Kate Lyons taking over from Alison Rourke. CNN reports that Trump has landed in the demilitarised zone and will meet with Kong Jong-un shortly.
#breaking US President Donald Trump has landed at the Korean Demilitarized Zone. He is expected to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the DMZ soon.
— Will Ripley (@willripleyCNN) June 30, 2019
Donald Trump first suggested the meeting with Kim in a tweet at the G20 meeting in Japan yesterday morning, in which he said he’d like to “say Hello(?)!)“.
During meetings in Seoul today he said that a handshake with Kim would “mean a lot”.
The meeting between the two leaders was only confirmed in the past hour or so when Trump and South Korea’s president Moon Jae-in, held a joint press conference. You can read our full story on that here.
More images are coming in of Trump’s helicopters arriving at the DMZ.
President Trump’s helicopter arriving just now at the DMZ pic.twitter.com/lG5v4aac6i
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) June 30, 2019
Donald Trump has travelled to the so-called “peace village” of Panmunjom, the site of the demarcation line between the two Koreas when their war finished in 1953. Helicopters have been arriving at the site in the past two minutes.
Watching the Flight of the Valkyries w @BBCLBicker at the DMZ pic.twitter.com/4jP4rVT99O
— John Delury (@JohnDelury) June 30, 2019
Updated
Hello and welcome to this live blog for the highly anticipated meeting between President Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un. The two men are expected to shake hands at the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea, possibly in the next hour. There is also the possibility that Donald Trump may step over the border and in to the north, something he said yesterday he would be happy to do. Trump will be accompanied by South Korea’s president Moon Jae-in. Follow all of our live coverage of this historic meeting.
