Trump and Jong Un talks inspire glee and skepticism

AP
Berlín.- While South Koreans cheered with hope and China saw an opening to discuss lifting sanctions on North Korea, some countries in Europe and the Mideast cautioned Tuesday that it was premature to judge U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s summit a success.

President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un concluded an extraordinary nuclear summit Tuesday by signing a document in which Trump pledged “security guarantees” to the North and Kim reiterated his commitment to “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

The leaders also offered lofty promises, with the American president pledged to handle a “very dangerous problem” and Kim forecasting “major change for the world.” Many have applauded the recent months of denuclearization diplomacy between North Korea and the U.S. after a year of mounting tension, threats and name-calling.

Hopes for peace on the long-divided Korean Peninsula, however, remaiU.S. President Donald Trump holds up the document that he and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un just signed at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island. “The United States and North Korea have been in a state of antagonism for more than half a century,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

“Today, that the two countries’ highest leaders can sit together and have equal talks, has important and positive meaning, and is creating a new history.” At a train station in Seoul, the South Korean capital, people cheered and applauded as televisions screens broadcast the Trump-Kim handshake live. “I really, really hope for a good outcome,” Yoon Ji, a professor at Sungshin University in Seoul, said.

“I am hoping for denuclearization and a peace agreement and also for North Korea’s economy to open up.”