Trump and Kim together around the table

singapore - The talks between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump started at the Capella Hotel in Singapore. A serious handshake preceded the meeting, leaving Trump his jovial stance. Kim laughed cautiously while Trump kept his face tight for a long time. Then he led Kim with a big smile to the library where both men started their maintenance.

Yesterday evening the North Korean leader was still on a cheerful walk through the Asian city. Now his face was concentrated, like that of the American president, who arrived barely a minute before the official start of the talks, at 9 o'clock local time.

The first interview with the American president will take about 45 minutes. Apart from the two translators, the conversation will be in private. That is an unusual way of negotiating. Trump believes that he is such an experienced negotiator, that he has to look at Kim to know if there is a deal in it. Observers fear, however, that Kim will impress his interlocutor.

The Americans fought South Korea against the communist north between 1950 and 1953, supported by China. Of the 5.7 million Americans sent to Korea, 50 thousand were killed. On the North Korean side the death toll was 200 thousand. An official peace treaty has never been signed.

The Singapore summit fits in with a series of historical encounters that can have major consequences for the future of the international world order. Regardless of what result the meeting between Kim and Trump yields, the fact that the conversations take place is itself a milestone.

The visit of US President Nixon to Chinese leader Mao Zedong in 1972 marked the beginning of a diplomatic relationship between the liberal American and the isolated communist government in China. In 1986, the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev and the American president Ronald Reagan spoke in Iceland about the nuclear arms race.

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