Trump becomes first sitting US president to enter North Korea as he shakes hands with Kim Jong-un

Donald Trump has become the first sitting US president to enter North Korea, stepping over from the DMZ to shake hands with Kim Jong-un.

In scenes stunning even in the light of their historic meeting last summer in Singapore, Mr Trump walked towards Mr Kim, shook hands and greeted him, and then stepped back across a line marking the North Korean border.

The North Korean leader told the US president: “It’s good to see you again. I didn’t expect to meet you at this place.”  

“President Trump has just walked across the demarcation line. That has made him the first US president to visit our country. Actually just looking at this action, this is an expression of his willingness to eliminate all the unfortunate past and open a new future,” added Mr Kim. He said the handshake was an “expression that today is different from yesterday”.

The two leaders then walked back over into the South side, where Mr Trump invited Mr Kim to the White House. A meeting that was originally supposed to be a brief exchange of pleasantries at the raised line marking the border, turned into private talks stretching to about 50 minutes. 

“I’ll invite him to the White House right now,” said Mr Trump. “A lot of really positive things are happening. Really positive.” He added: “Stepping across that line was a great honour.”

Mr Trump later addressed members of the US military at an American air base in Osan, just south of Seoul in South Korea.

The president said the US and North Korea have designated teams to resume stalled nuclear talks between the nations within weeks. 

Mr Trump also said sanctions against North Korea remained in place following today’s meeting, but he appeared to be leaving open the possibility of scaling them back, saying that “at some point during the negotiation, things can happen”.

There had long been speculation Mr Trump, who had been in Japan for the G20 summit, would visit the DMZ while in the region. Some wondered whether he may reach out to the North Korean leader, which he did in the form of a tweet on Saturday morning,

“I was very surprised to hear about your offer on the tweet and only late in the afternoon I was able to confirm your invitation. I had wanted to meet you again and especially for both Koreas, this place is a sign of unfortunate history of the past,” said the North Korean leader. 

“So for our two Koreas to be able to have this opportunity for me to meet you here is very significant. It means that we can feel at ease and meet each other with positive mindsets. I believe that this will have a positive influence in all our discussions in the future.”

According to Bioreports, Mr Trump said: “When I put out the social media notification, if he didn’t show up, the press was going to make me look very bad.”

Mr Trump said because Mr Kim showed up, they both looked good. “This could be a very historic moment and I guess that’s what it is. I think the relationship that we’ve developed has meant so much to so many people.”

Critics of the president question his willingness to meet with the North Korean leader, and say he risks providing international legitimacy to a dictator with an appalling human rights while getting nothing in return.

Supporters of his strategy say it has sharply improved relations between the two countries, at a time when Pyongyang has been expanding its nuclear weapon capabilities.

Mr Trump was accompanied to the DMZ by South Korean Moon Jae-in.

Mr Moon praised the two leaders for “being so brave” to hold the meeting and said: “I hope president Trump will go down in history as the president who achieves peace on Korean Peninsula.” 

Additional reporting by Associated Press