The Singapore Sentosa Summit - What was agreed and what the critics say

Trump announced the end of the US South Korean War games of simulating attacks on North Korea acknowledging they were provocative.

DPRK-US statement

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.

Several political analysts said the summit had yielded symbolic, rather than tangible, results - as if halting the United States South Korean War Games was not an advance ? 

The comments below say more about the people saying them than the reality of what happened in Singapore.

‘It is unclear if further negotiations will lead to the end goal of denuclearisation,’ said Anthony Ruggiero, senior fellow of Washington’s Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank. 

‘This looks like a restatement of where we left negotiations more than 10 years ago and not a major step forward.’

Beatrice Fihn, executive director of the Nobel Peace-prize winning anti-nuclear campaign group ICAN, said: ‘We support diplomacy and peaceful solutions. But there is no agreement on nuclear disarmament and this all looked more like a big welcome party to the nuclear-armed club.’

Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia, said: ‘Our negotiators achieved nothing new – not one new concession in exchange for legitimisation of North Korean dictator.’

FROM ZOOM IN KOREA
Following the DPRK-U.S. Summit in Singapore on June 12, the leaders of the two countries released the following joint statement:

“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.

DONALD J. TRUMP
President of the United States of America
KIM JONG UN
Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
June 12, 2018
Sentosa Island
Singapore”

A few hours after the completion of the summit meeting, Donald Trump held a press conference at which he mentioned the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises. Although Trump said the withdrawal or reduction of U.S. troops in South Korea is not “part of the equation right now,” he also told reporters, “We will be stopping the war games.”

Trump cited two reasons for stopping the joint military exercises with South Korea:

1. “War games are tremendously expensive.”
2. “I think it is very provocative.”

Trump also talked about the denuclearization process as being complicated, particularly mentioning that it will “take a long time to pull off complete denuclearization… scientifically.”

According to the U.S. president, more meetings are to be expected in the near future — possibly in Washington and Pyongyang.