Trump Kim summit: US and North Korean leaders hold historic talks

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have become the first sitting US president and North Korean leader to meet, an unprecedented development after a year of exchanging threats.

The pair shook hands at a luxury hotel on Singapore's Sentosa island before proceeding to talks.

After the summit the leaders signed a "comprehensive" document, promising a new relationship between the nations.

They had been discussing defusing tensions and nuclear disarmament.

The document commits North Korea to work towards "the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula" and promises "new relations" between Washington and Pyongyang.

The US had demanded "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation".

There was also a commitment to build "a stable and lasting peace" on the Korean peninsula.

"I think both sides will be very impressed with the result," Mr Trump said at a signing ceremony with Mr Kim.

The US president said more details would be provided at a press conference due shortly.

Mr Trump spoke of a "special bond" with the North Korean leader and said he was "absolutely" willing to invite him to the White House.

"We've decided to leave the past behind," Mr Kim said. "The world will see major changes."

Still, analysts remain divided on what the summit will ultimately achieve. Some see it as a propaganda win for Mr Kim, others a potential path to peace.

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Why are they holding talks?

This is about the leaders of two countries with nuclear weapons saying they want to try to patch things up.

Until recently Trump and Kim were threatening to fire these weapons on each other.

The US - and most other countries - have long refused to engage with North Korea because of its relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons and shocking human rights records.

That all changed earlier this year when Donald Trump responded to an apparent olive branch from Kim Jong-un.

The pair talked about nuclear disarmament and defusing tensions in the Korean peninsula.

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Why does North Korea have nukes?

North Korea says nuclear weapons are its only deterrent against an outside world seeking to destroy it.

It is an isolationist, one-party state and its leaders decided decades ago it needed a full nuclear weapons programme if it was to survive.

North Korea has carried out six nuclear tests. It claims, though this remains unverified, to have developed a nuclear bomb small enough to be carried by long-range missile. It also has a ballistic missile that experts believe could reach the US, Pyongyang's main adversary.

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Why do they feel threatened?

North Korea has continued to develop its nuclear arsenal and violated its citizens' human rights leading to international condemnation and increasing isolation.

Its nuclear programme has always been worryingly secretive, and there is real fear that if the government collapsed, the nukes could fall into the wrong hands.

All this means North Korea has faced global condemnation and ever-increasing sanctions. They're intended to punish it economically and force it to change course.

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Why are they so isolated?

The country has always been a source of tension between the US, the Soviet Union and China after the Korean peninsula was split in two in 1948.

At the end of the Second World War the Korean peninsula was divided into two, with the north being occupied by the Soviet Union and the south by the United States.

The political differences between the North and South led to the outbreak of a horrific war in 1950, which lasted three years. he US backed South Korea - and still has a military pact to defend the South to this day.

In the 1960s Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of Kim Jong-un, played the Soviet Union and China off each other, resulting in distrust between the countries. And after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Moscow ceded influence to Beijing.

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Why was Korea split into two?

Prior to the Second World War it was occupied by Japan. At the end of the war, with Japan on the losing side, the peninsular was divided in two between the victorious powers.

The North was occupied by the Soviet Union and South by the United States. The border was formed along the 38th parallel - the line of latitude at 38 degrees north of the equator. North and South Korea were formally created on 9 September 1948.

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