The 2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit, commonly known as the Singapore Summit, was a summit meeting between North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump,[4] held at the Capella Hotel, Sentosa, Singapore, on June 12, 2018. It was the first-ever meeting between leaders of North Korea and the United States.
They signed a joint statement, agreeing to security guarantees for North Korea, new peaceful relations, the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, recovery of soldiers' remains, and follow-up negotiations
between high-level officials. Both leaders also met separately with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.Immediately following the summit, President Trump announced that the U.S. military would discontinue "provocative" joint military exercises with South Korea, and stated that he wished to bring the U.S. soldiers back home at some point, but he reinforced that it was not part of the Singapore equation.[5][6] On August 1, 2018, the U.S. Senate passed the military budget bill for 2019, forbidding funding the reduction of active USFK personnel below 22,000; significant removal of US forces is considered a non-negotiable item in denuclearization talks with the North.[7]
After a period of heightened conflict that included North Korea successfully testing what it claims was its first hydrogen bomb and the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in late 2017, tensions began to de-escalate after Kim Jong-un announced his desire to send athletes to the 2018 Winter Olympics being held in South Korea. During the games, Kim proposed talks with South Korea to plan a inter-Korean summit. On March 8, the South Korean delegation returned from the talks and traveled to the United States to deliver an invitation by Kim Jong-un to Donald Trump for a meeting. High-level exchanges between the two sides then took place, including a visit by then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo to Pyongyang and a visit by Kim Yong-chol, Vice Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, to the White House. Both sides threatened to cancel the summit after a round of joint military exercises by the U.S. and South Korea, with Trump even delivering a formal letter to Kim to call off the meeting; however, the two sides eventually agreed to meet.[8] A second meeting was held between Trump and Kim in February 2019 in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Korea has been divided since 1945. The Korean War of 1950–1953 ended with an armistice agreement but not a peace settlement. A sporadic conflict has continued, with American troops remaining in the South as part of a mutual defense treaty. The North began building a nuclear reactor in 1963, and it began a nuclear weapons program in the 1980s. North Korea first committed to denuclearization in 1992 in the Joint Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In a speech authored by David Frum, President George W. Bush referred to North Korea as part of an "axis of evil" during his 2002 State of the Union address,[9] but in the 2005 Joint Statement of the Fourth Round of the Six-Party Talks, North Korea reaffirmed the 1992 Joint Declaration and the goal of verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In 2008, North Korea voluntarily gave information on its nuclear program in exchange for sanction relief, and they were taken off the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. Despite this, nuclear inspectors were barred from surveying any North Korean weapons facilities.[10] The Obama administration had a policy of "strategic patience", in which perceived North Korean provocations would not be "rewarded" with presidential attention or the sending of high-level envoys but instead be punished with sanctions and greater military coordination with South Korea and Japan.[11] More nuclear tests were conducted in the succeeding years, and the 2010 bombardment of Yeonpyeong markedly raised tensions between North Korea and South Korea. The escalation of North Korea's nuclear program advanced particularly under the rule of Kim Jong-un, who became the leader in December 2011, after his father Kim Jong-il died.[9]
Donald Trump was elected US President in 2016 with a position of opposition to Barack Obama's policy of "strategic patience" towards North Korea. While advocating a tough stance, he also expressed openness to dialogue, saying he would be prepared to "eat a hamburger" with Kim. He put himself at odds with military allies, saying that it would be better if South Korea and Japan protect themselves. In return, a pro-North Korean website, DPRK Today, described him as a "wise politician".[12] The editorial suggested that Trump might make the slogan "Yankee go home" a reality.[13] In 2017, Moon Jae-in was elected President of South Korea with a promise to return to the Sunshine Policy of friendly relations with the North
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