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On Sunday, President Trump became the first sitting U.S. President to set foot in North Korea, while being accompanied by Leader Kim Jong-Un. 

This impromptu meeting of the two leaders at the border was made possible by President Trump reaching out to the Kim Jong-Un through twitter on Saturday.   After secret negotiations and wide speculation of a potential meeting, President Trump and President Moon confirmed Sunday that Kim Jong-Un had accepted the invitation to meet. 

Shortly after President Trump arrived at the DMZ and was giving a brief tour. From there the two leaders approached the demarcation line that divides the Koreas. 

Leader Kim Jong-Un expressed his surprise of meeting President Trump at the DMZ through an interpreter stating, “Good to see you again. I never expected to meet you at this place.” 

President Trump responded in kind with, “Big Moment. Tremendous progress.” 

After the exchanges of pleasantries Leader Kim Jong-Un invited President Trump to step over into North Korea, advising the President he would be the first to ever do so. President Trump spent a few minutes over the line walking and talking with Leader Kim Jong-Un.

Then, President Trump offered to Leader Kim Jong-Un to have the two leaders crossover into South Korea together. While crossing Leader Kim Jong-Un spoke to President Trump stating, “I believe this is an expression of his willingness to eliminate all the unfortunate past and open a new future.”

Shortly after, crossing the demarcation line into South Korean President Moon joined President Trump and Leader Kim Jong-Un, in an three way gathering of the leaders. 

After the historic crossing and meeting at the DMZ both leaders sat down for a short meeting at the Freedom House, on the South Korean side of the DMZ. The meeting lasted for about an hour. 

After the meeting President Trump told reporters that Mr. Kim has agreed to reopen negotiations in hopes to brokering a deal to start the full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Both President Trump and Leader Kim Jong-Un plan to have negotiations resume in coming weeks about North Koreans denuclearization steps.

The sanctions President Trump put into place against North Korea will stand. When talking to reporters he appeared to be willing to ease those restrictions as part of the negotiations. 

Now, as the two nations have reopened negotiations we have to take a wait and see approach from here. Hopefully, this is first step in the long road towards a meaningful and lasting peace but, most importantly an official end to the Korean War. 

Do you believe this could be the first step to end of the war on the Korean Peninsula? Let me know in the comments below.

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