Trump, China Hails ‘Historic’ Korea Summit

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un (R) talks with South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in (L) at a bench on a bridge next to the military demarcation line at the truce village of Panmunjom on April 27, 2018. PHOTO: KOREA SUMMIT PRESS POOL / AFP

US President Donald Trump hailed Friday’s Korea summit as historic but warned that “only time will tell”.

• “I am happy to meet you,” Moon Jae-in told his counterpart Kim Jong Un as he became the first leader from the North to step into the South since the Korean war. Moon also briefly stepped into the North before walking back.

“After a furious year of missile launches and Nuclear testing, a historic meeting between North and South Korea is now taking place,” Trump tweeted after the leaders of North and South Korea agreed to pursue a permanent peace and the complete denuclearisation of the divided peninsula.

“Good things are happening, but only time will tell!” added Trump, who is scheduled to meet in weeks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

In a second tweet, Trump wrote: “KOREAN WAR TO END! The United States and all of its GREAT people should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!”

The summit between the two Koreas was the highest-level encounter yet in a whirlwind of nuclear diplomacy and intended to pave the way for the much-anticipated encounter between Kim and Trump.

Last year Pyongyang carried out its sixth nuclear test, by far its most powerful to date, and launched missiles capable of reaching the US mainland.

Its actions sent tensions soaring as Kim and Trump traded personal insults and threats of war.

China Hails ‘Courage’ Of North, South Korean Leaders

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un (L) shakes hands with South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in (R) at the Military Demarcation Line that divides their countries ahead of their summit at the truce village of Panmunjom on April 27, 2018. PHOTO: Korea Summit Press Pool/AFP

China on Friday heaped praise on the leaders of the two Koreas for holding a landmark summit, calling their handshake over the Military Demarcation Line that divides the peninsula a “historic moment”.

“We applaud the Korean leaders’ historic step and appreciate their political decisions and courage,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing.

“We hope and look forward to them taking this opportunity to further open a new journey of long-term stability on the peninsula.”

She also cited a poem that reads: “We remain brothers after all the  vicissitudes; let’s forgo our old grudges, smiling we meet again.”

China is North Korea’s sole major ally but it has supported a series of United Nations sanctions to punish Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile tests.

Beijing has pressed for dialogue to peacefully resolve the nuclear crisis.


AFP