Kim Jong-un affirmed an 'unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula' in a signed document on Tuesday, President Donald Trump says.
'We're prepared to start a new history, and we're ready to write a new chapter between our two nations,' he told a packed room of reporters at a press conference in Singapore.
Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program will come to an end, he predicted, claiming that Kim had already left Singapore and was 'on his way back' to North Korea to begin implementing their joint vows.
'I believe he's going to live up to that document,' Trump said. 'Our eyes are wide open, but peace is always worth the effort, especially in this case.'
Trump said he knows 'for a fact that as soon as he arrives' in Pyongyang Kim is 'going to start a process that makes a lot of people very happy' even though the statement that his White House provided to press made no mention of an agreed upon timetable for denuclearization.
'He wants to do that. This isn't the past. This isn't another administration that never got it started and therefore never got it done,' Trump said, tweaking the Obama administration.
The U.S. president told reporters that he became convinced that Kim was serious when he agreed to dismantle a sophisticated missile engine testing site. 'We're much further along than I would have thought.'
At the same time, he agreed that there are no guarantees that Kim will tear apart what he called 'a very substantial arsenal.' 'Can you ensure anything?' he asked. 'All I can say is: They want to make a deal. ... Can anybody be certain? But we're going to be certain soon because the negotiations continue.'
'I may be wrong,' he allowed. 'I may stand before you in six months and say, "Hey, I was wrong." ' And then with a sly smile, Trump joked: 'I don't know that I'll ever admit that, but I'll find some kind of an excuse.'
The president said he had been working around the clock helping to cement the terms of what he hopes will be an iron-clad agreement that Kim will honor. That would mark a change from North Korea's past performance on pacts with the West.
'I haven't slept in 25 hours, but I thought it was important to do,' he said, animated as ever in gesture and vocal cadence.'
Trump made no promises about relaxing the economic sanctions that have strangled the hermit kingdom for years yet said he was 'actually looking forward to taking them off' if Kim follows through on his commitments.
He speculated about exchanging ambassadors with North Korea 'hopefully soon' but cautioned that 'it's a little bit early for that.'
A first step would be a White House invitation. The U.S. president again said he's open to inviting Kim to the U.S. and visiting Pyongyang himself. 'At a certain time, I will,' he said of a conversation with Kim in the Oval Office.
He also projected that hostilities between the North and South 'will soon end' because 'the past does not have to define the future.'
'Anyone can make war, but only the most courageous can make peace. The current state of affairs cannot continue forever,' Trump proclaimed in his second news conference this week on foreign soil.
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