Trump Pledges 'Security Guarantees' to Pyongyang

President Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un concluded an extraordinary nuclear summit Tuesday with the US president pledging unspecified "security guarantees" to the North, and Kim recommitting to the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," the AP reports. They coupled the summit agreement with lofty promises by Trump to handle "a very dangerous problem" and Kim's prediction for "major change." Light on specifics, the document largely amounted to an agreement to continue discussions as it echoed previous public statements and past commitments. It didn't include an agreement to take steps toward ending the technical state of warfare between the US 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. Language on North Korea's bombs was similar to what the leaders of North and South Korea came up with at their own summit in April. At the time, the Koreans faced criticism for essentially kicking the issue of North Korea's nuclear arsenal down the road to Tuesday's Trump-Kim summit. Trump and Kim even directly referenced the so-called Panmunjom Declaration, which contained a weak commitment to denuclearization and no specifics on how to achieve it. (More North Korea stories.)