For Trump and Kim, the future is full of promises

Trump also said in a separate tweet that North Korea is “no longer” the US’ “biggest and most risky problem”, telling Americans and the rest of the world they can “sleep well tonight!” “But the President said he expected immediate action as a result of the talks”.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke to Donald Trump after the summit, saying there was “great meaning in Chairman Kim’s clearly confirming to President Trump the complete denuclearisation”.

US President Donald Trump has declared North Korea no longer poses a nuclear threat, even though there is no clearer definition of denuclearisation or a timeframe added for it to be done.

That didn’t stop the president from talking up the outcome of what was the first meeting between a US and North Korean leader in six decades of hostility. “The world will see a major change”.

North Korea has condemned the drills as an unacceptable act of aggression, provocation and threat. “We’ll be verifying”, the president remarked in a rare, extended news conference after the summit. In his media briefing in Singapore on Tuesday, Trump mentioned ending the drills, which he described – in language similar to that used by North Korea – as “provocative”, saying it would save the the US money. South Korea was largely responsible for convincing Pyongyang and Washington to come to the negotiating table.

-North Korea summit that day, to bring closure to the thorny issue of Japanese citizens abducted decades ago.

China has confirmed that Pompeo will visit Beijing on Thursday. “No concrete progress has been made toward denuclearization”.

In the aftermath of the Singapore summit, the anti-Trump talking point is that Trump accomplished nothing of outcome.

WATCH: Was the North Korea summit a success or a fail?

Many lawmakers from both parties, while unready to declare the summit a diplomatic victory or defeat, remained skeptical the USA could successfully negotiate a deal toward peace with Kim – but are letting the process play out.

Pompeo is charged by Trump with leading the follow-on negotiations with North Korea.

Both Seoul and USA military commanders in the South indicated they had no idea the announcement was coming, and in an editorial Wednesday the Korea Herald said it was “worrisome”.

“We fully understand the peace talks were about denuclearization – we wanted this to be part of that as well”, he said.

However, dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme will present a daunting challenge.

North Korea is believed to possess more than 50 nuclear warheads, with its atomic programme spread across more than 100 sites constructed over decades to evade global inspections.

In comparison, the Iran Nuclear Deal, signed by President Barack Obama and other European nations, detailed steps about how the International Atomic Energy Agency would monitor Iran’s denuclearization and have access to inspect any sites they deemed suspicious.