Trump: Kim Jong Un accepted invite to White House

Singapore  — President Donald Trump says he’ll invite North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to visit the White House at the “appropriate time.” And he says Kim has accepted.

Trump also says he is open to visiting Kim some day in Pyongyang.

Trump is speaking at a press conference Tuesday after a day of meetings with Kim in Singapore.

It was the first time a sitting U.S. president and North Korean leader had met face to face.

Trump praised Kim, calling him “very talented” and pointing to his rise to power at a relatively young age. He also said the U.S. would be ending its joint military exercises with South Korea.

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4:50 p.m.
President Donald Trump says the remains of U.S. prisoners of war and those missing in action during the Korean War will be returned.
Trump said during a news conference Tuesday after a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore that he asked Kim to commit to returning the remains “and we got it.”
The president says he had received “countless calls” and letters from family members asking him to help them receive the remains of their loved ones.
Trump says, “The remains will be coming back. They’re going to start that process immediately.”

4:45 p.m.
President Donald Trump says North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is destroying a major missile engine testing site.
Trump says Kim informed him of this development during the historic nuclear summit they held Tuesday in Singapore.
Trump did not give a location for the testing site.
He says the details about the site being destroyed were not included in the joint declaration the leaders signed after nearly five hours of talks because they agreed to it after the document was signed.
Trump says destruction of the site is a “big thing.”

4:40 p.m.
President Donald Trump is defending his repeated praise of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un during their meetings in spite of Kim’s distressing record on human rights.
Trump told reporters at a press conference in Singapore on Tuesday that Kim “is very talented.” He pointed to Kim’s rise to power at a relatively young age.
Trump has appeared largely unconcerned about the implications of feting an authoritarian leader suspected of ordering the public assassination of his half brother with a nerve agent, executing his uncle by firing squad and killing U.S. college student Otto Warmbier.
But Trump says without Warmbier’s death, his meeting with Kim may not have happened. He says, “Otto did not die in vain.”
Trump says human rights did come up during the talks, albeit briefly.
Trump says he believes Kim wants to do the right thing.

4:30 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he will be ending joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea.
Trump made the announcement Tuesday at a news conference in Singapore after his historic meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
North Korea has long objected to the annual exercises, viewing them as practice for future military action against the North by the United States.
Trump cast his decision as a financial consideration, saying the U.S. will save a lot of money by canceling the drills.

4:25 p.m.
President Donald Trump is thanking North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “for taking the first bold step toward a bright new future for his people” after the leaders’ historic Singapore summit.
Trump said at a news conference Tuesday after meeting face to face with Kim that “real change is indeed possible.”
He also says that he’s prepared “to start a new history” and “write a new chapter” between the two nations.
He says, “The past does not have to define the future.”
Trump held a news conference in Singapore before returning home.

4:20 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he gave North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a video that laid out the opportunities of their historic meeting.
Reporters were shown the video before the start of Trump’s news conference Tuesday. The video resembled a preview of a film. It shows images of warplanes and artillery and says there can “only be two results,” one of moving back or moving forward.
The video shows the two leaders and raises the questions: “What if history can be changed? Will the world embrace this change?”
The president says he gave the video “to Chairman Kim and his people.”

4:15 p.m.
President Donald Trump is finally revealing that he spoke directly with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ahead of their Singapore summit.
Trump said in an interview Tuesday with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he’d spoken with Kim and others before the summit.
Trump had dodged the question for weeks, refusing to answer reporters who asked about their contact.
During a visit to Mar-a-Lago in April, Trump told a reporter that he had spoken with Kim personally, but an aide quickly walked back the statement, saying it was other officials who’d spoken with Kim.
It was later revealed that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had traveled to Pyongyang to meet with Kim.
Trump is describing his day with Kim as “very intense.” He says he believes Kim wants to get denuclearization “done” and says he trusts Kim.

3:50 p.m.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has spoken with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts after President Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Pompeo tweeted shortly after the summit ended Tuesday that he’d telephoned South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono. The State Department released a photograph of Pompeo on the phone.
Pompeo says on Twitter he provided the diplomats with “a brief readout of today’s meeting” between Trump and Kim. The two leaders concluded their summit 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 State Department is declining to release any additional information about the calls.

3:30 p.m.
President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un have concluded an extraordinary nuclear summit 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.”
Light on specifics, the document largely amounted to an agreement to continue discussions as it reiterated previous public statements and past commitments. It did not include an agreement to take steps toward ending the technical state of warfare between the U.S. and North Korea.
The pair promised in the document to “build a lasting and stable peace regime” on the Korean Peninsula and to repatriate remains of prisoners of war and those missing in action during the Korean War.  /vvp
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