Many Koreans were in tears as I stepped into North: Trump
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said many North Koreans were literally in tears when he stepped into their country before his historic meeting with Kim Jong-un in the demilitarized zone dividing the peninsula.
Trump travelled to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) with South Korean President Moon Jae-In and met with troops stationed there before meeting Kim at a marker delineating the border between the two states.
The North Korean leader then invited Trump to cross into his country. Trump accepted his offer and walked over the demarcation line, becoming the only sitting US president to set foot inside North Korea.
After posing for photos, Trump and Kim held a bilateral meeting at the Freedom House in border town of Panmunjom, South Korea.
"I actually stepped into North Korea and they say it's a very historic moment," he told American soldiers at Osan Air Base after his meeting with Chairman Kim.
"Many people, I noticed, from Korea were literally in tears," he added.
Trump on Sunday returned to the White House.
The New York Times described the meeting between Trump and Kim as a masterpiece of drama.
"President Trump's largely improvised third meeting on Sunday with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, was a masterpiece of drama, the kind of made-for-TV spectacle that Mr Trump treasures," the daily said.
Trump and Kim held a historic first summit in Singapore in June, which concluded with a vague joint statement where Kim pledged to work toward denuclearisation.
Then they met in Hanoi, Vietnam in February, but
talks broke down without any joint agreement as Kim
pushed for sanctions relief and the US pushed for denuclearisation.
Meanwhile, North Korea on Monday described the weekend meeting between its leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in the Demilitarised Zone as "historic" and "amazing".
The two leaders agreed to "resume and push forward productive dialogues for making a new breakthrough in the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula", the official Korean Central News Agency said.
After a Twitter invitation by the US president on Saturday, the two men met a day later in the strip of land that has divided the peninsula for 66 years since the end of the Korean War,
when their countries and their allies fought each other to a standstill.
Kim and Trump shook hands over the concrete blocks dividing North and South before Trump walked a few paces into Pyongyang's territory — the first US president ever to set foot on North Korean soil.
