it "a so u; r "a “mr ‘m itsn ltu 6 66 u it16 he through to the corridor. the way through to the corridor. they now engage in bilateral conversations between the two. stay with us here as we bring you every step of the development, live from singapore. hello and a very warm welcome to bbc news. i'm babita sharma in singapore. we're bringing you live coverage of the much—hyped kim—trump summit. even north korea's state broadcaster has finally begun reporting news of the historic meeting. donald trump and kimjong—un have met and shaken hands at the start of their historic one—day summit in singapore. the us president and north korean leader then held brief one—on—one talks with translators on defusing tensions and nuclear disarmament. the long road to the talks has seen secret meetings, stop—start diplomacy

and the release of us detainees. but it all hangs on what happens, right here, right now. i feel really great. we're going to have a great discussion. and i think tremendous success. it will be tremendously successful. we'll have a terrific relationship. i have no doubt. it was not easy to get here. the old prejudices and practices worked as obstacles in our way forward but we overcame all of them and we are here today. that's true. and in the last few minutes, both leaders have gone for more discussions with officials. to stay with us as we bring unprecedented coverage here on bbc news. in the last ten minutes or so we

have seen the two men heading into what we believe are the wider, expanded, bilateral conversation, a company around the table by their respective officials as they went into their initial meeting. before that, president trump predicted he would have a terrific relationship with north korea's kimjong—un. words said a month smiles and a little bit of backslapping. no sitting us president has ever met with a north korean leader beforehand. before the anticipated talks, the trump tweeted that the world will soon know whether a real

deal, unlike those of the past, can be forged with kim jong—un. that, seen here a short time ago, interesting, fascinating, in fact, to see the leaders gathered around the table there, shaking hands with their immediate delegations in tow. john bolton, also mike pompeo, the secretary of state. john kelly representing the americans of. and the vice—chair of the north koreans and the foreign minister of north korea. our understanding of what is happening at the moment is that the leaders are now involved very much in the official summit meeting after initially having an informal conversation, which according to my calculations, probably took around 25- 30 calculations, probably took around 25— 30 minute. from the moment they step into the one on sentosa island,

about five kilometres from where we are here. a photo opportunity in the library, to then have a chat before we get to this point now where that bilateral conversation is under way. let's bring you a reminder of these unprecedented moment is that we have seen unprecedented moment is that we have seen a unprecedented moment is that we have seen a short time ago. we can have a little listening to what they had to stage in this photo opportunity. i feel really great. we're going to have a great discussion. and i think tremendous success. it will be tremendously successful. we'll have a terrific relationship. i have no doubt. it was not easy to get here. the old prejudices and practices worked as obstacles in our way forward but we overcame all of them and we are here today. that's true. thank you very much everybody. thank

you very much. thank you. that is the image that you will become accustomed to, i am sure, over the coming days, if not years of. the shaking of the men's hands here in singapore. i am shaking of the men's hands here in singapore. iam not shaking of the men's hands here in singapore. i am not sure if you do a chance to hear that, the audio wasn't great on that press conference. i should say, i use that term loosely. it was invited media by the select people that are there to attend that way brief sitdown. anyway, donald trump said: i feel really great. we're going to have a great discussion. and i think tremendous success. it will be tremendously successful. we'll have a terrific relationship. i have no doubt. kim jong—un saying: it was not easy to get here. the old prejudices and practices

worked as obstacles in our way forward but we overcame all of them and we are here today. our tokyo correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes is outside the hotel where the summit is being held. you saw that motorcade of both parties come in, you have been witnessing the handshake there. unprecedented moments, of course, and now we are getting into the detail, we hope of what the two men are going to sit down and bashed out in terms of concrete postals. —— proposals. over the last hour or so, firstly we all knew this was going to happen. we all imagined what the scene would be like but i have to say even i had to hedge myself —— pinch myself, when i see this actually happening. it is something... it is not what a lot of the world thought would happen and here we are seeing donald trump and kim jong—un shaking hands and sitting down and chatting. on the

initial discussions or comments, a couple of things that came to mind for me. first of all, president trump saying we are going to have a great discussion and terrific relationship and it will be a tremendous success. it seems he has declared this gay success at the beginning. whichever way the discussion goes today, president trump is saying this is a successor. the other thing from kim jong—un, speaking directly to the gathered media, making those comments about it taking a long time to come here, to ove rco m e it taking a long time to come here, to overcome old registers and obstacles. first time i think i have seen a obstacles. first time i think i have seen a north korean leader ever talk directly to the international media in that way. and what we are seeing here with kim jong—un, is a very different style of north korean leader, very different from his father. the question on everybody‘s minds who has watched this process is how much difference is there in substance? is this a young man, a different man, a new north korean leader who really does want to turn history in a different direction, to

engage with the united states, with the outside world? that is what we are going to find out in the next few hours when we see what substance, if any, few hours when we see what substance, ifany, comes few hours when we see what substance, if any, comes out on this sitdown, this serious discussion thatis sitdown, this serious discussion that is now taking place. that is indeed the point. as we go over the details of what exactly will be discussed between the two. just want to bring you up—to—date with some information that is coming through to us here. we understand, in terms of who is exactly present there, translators, of course for both teams of. the lady sitting next to donald trump's right, is translating on behalf of him. kimjong—un donald trump's right, is translating on behalf of him. kim jong—un also has a translated rectally opposite her. that is interesting when you talk about the choreography on who sits where. make no mistake, this has been very carefully put together. next to donald trump is john kelly, then we havejohn bolton, the, someone save the

divisive figure. a controversial one, who has had a very hawkish approach to the strategy in terms of foreign policy, perhaps at one stage, the orchestrated behind what could have been the derailing of the talks some weeks ago when donald trump said it was off before it was on again. might and pao, trump said it was off before it was on again. mightand pao, the us secretary of state and also in terms of kim jong—un's team. secretary of state and also in terms of kimjong—un's team. —— mike pompeo. roh moo—hyun, the foreign affairs minister, the former ambassador to switzerland and someone ambassador to switzerland and someone who has been very issue metal in the conversations taking place not only in the york, washington, seoul, but also leading up washington, seoul, but also leading up to this final appointment we have got today. —— new york. also, the vice—chairman of the workers party of korea. also known as the former spy of korea. also known as the former spy chief. and the foreign minister,

it it is those people now who will be ironing out the details of any possible concrete framework, if we are going to hear it, the denuclearisation of weapons. and that key point that mike pompeo made yesterday, verifying the fact that north korea can give up its nuclear weapons unconditionally. as we continue to see those pictures in the last hour or so, we have been here before, haven't we? with previous us president trying to engage with north korea in terms of denuclearisation. are you getting the sense today that this deal is different from what has gone before? yes, it is fundamentally different because of the nature of what is going on here. if we go back to the early 1990s, the agreed framework between bill clinton and initiation

and kim jong—un's father, between bill clinton and initiation and kimjong—un's father, which any agreement today will be loosely based on, we think. that was a long, protracted negotiation behind closed doors by specialists on nuclear disarmament, specialists on north korea and diplomacy, before it moved very gradually towards inviting the us secretary of state to go to pyongyang and working towards a presidential summit, that never took lace. what we are seeing today is everything the other way round. we are starting off with this very high profile presidential summit, face—to—face meeting between us president and kim jong—un, essentially before much of that detailed negotiation has taken place. yesterday is anything, it is the beginning of that process. you can argue that this is a brilliant piece of diplomacy by president trump because what he is doing is building a personal relationship which means that the north korean

leader can trust the americans more and would the more willing to go to and would the more willing to go to a —— towards that long road to denuclearisation. critics would say it president trump is giving away a enormous “— it president trump is giving away a enormous —— an enormous and out, just today is a human —— huge propaganda gift to meet in the public spotlight with the us president. this will be played four yea rs president. this will be played four years back home and it usually enhances his status at home but also around the world and with his neighbours, china, south korea and so on. neighbours, china, south korea and so on. so it depends which way you view this. but this is very different from anything we have seen before. rupert, thank you very much. on sentosa, the island playing host to this historic summit. with me is professor robert kelly from pusan national university of south korea. a lot warmer than it was at 4am this morning. listening to rupert there,

we cannot underplay the significance of how a major shift this has formed in the regime. sure, the idea of that north korea has been centred on andi that north korea has been centred on and i am american is in, they blame united states for the war and the bombing, which was severe. we did tell what people. so now this is really going to be a breakthrough, they will have to turn the ship and thatis they will have to turn the ship and that is something remarkable. i am wondering how they are going to do that. we have spoken a lot over the last few days about what promises might be made here and who gives up what. we will talk about that in a moment but i wanted to ask you first, i covered the death of kim jong ill in december 2011 and there was a sense, the people i was interviewing at the time that something might change here and then nothing did for the six years that preceded and we have the status quo being maintained by his son when he became leader. fast forward to where

we are today, this may never have been anything that forefathers in a gender. he was a fairly standard tyra nt gender. he was a fairly standard tyrant like his grandfather before him for the first six years and then all of a sudden in the last six months he has come out and south korean media said he was almost eight teddy bear at the inter— korean summitand eight teddy bear at the inter— korean summit and that led you to wonder why this big shift happened to. the argument is that he is a reformer and wants to open up and, the more hawkish interpretation would be now that he has the weapons he would look around for a deal and if he doesn't get them he would retreat. we will talk about the details, stay with us. it will be interesting to see the information as it comes to us. see the information as it comes to us. the summit is now officially under way. you are watching bbc news with a special coverage continuing of these historic summit of kim

jong—un and donald trump. the director of the asia programme at the woodrow institute. he joins me now from washington. good morning and welcome to see programme. thank you for having me. seems many people thought they would never see. what is your reaction? it is really quite remarkable seeing an american president meeting with the north korean leader. regardless of what happens next, this is a historic moment. it is a helpful hopeful moment. it is a helpful hopeful moment to see these two leaders trying to cut a deal. i am very sceptical about what may come, in terms of denuclearisation but for such a difficult and challenging

issue, a moment of hope. we now turn to the conversation about what will be agreed here. what do you think may happen? obviously this is speculative but i expect there will be an announcement about their intent to end the war war and a blunt commitment towards denuclearisation. one of the question is how we get there. north korea has agreed to denuclearisation in the past but not agree to a timetable. to commit to a specific timetable. to commit to a specific timetable within the first term of president trump, to completely and

verifiably denuclearise. the key question is whether north korea will do that and go through with it. beyond that is what is the us going to give up in terms of security assurances. secretary mike pompeo saying they will be doing assurances never done before including potentially questions about the long—term presence of american forces in korea, deterrent guarantee in korea as wells as economic engagement and listening to sanctions. —— loosening. engagement and listening to sanctions. -- loosening. thank you for joining sanctions. -- loosening. thank you forjoining us with that analysis. we will continue to go through the details as soon as we get them between the two men and their delegations. that conversation is now under way behind closed doors.

to give you a sense of what we have gleaned over the last 1.5 hours. they walked into the capella hotel on the island of sentosa. kim jong—un walking in first and then donald trump leaving it to the last minute. then came the historic, symbolic moment when the two men stood on the forecourt of the hotel, shaking hands in front of their respective flags. smiling, slightly awkwardly it is safe to say, to the photographers gathered there. a strong handshake between the two leaders. a handshake that we have come familiar with from donald trump. just behind kim jong—un, leading him towards the corridors of the capella hotel, to a library

where they sat down for a photo opportunity in it is those images that will could —— continued to dominate in the coming months if not yea rs. dominate in the coming months if not years. then they took part in a one on one meeting which we understand that lasted for around 110 odd minutes. the first 1—to—1 meeting between president trump and the north korean leader kimjong—un. before we saw these, photo opportunity to see the delegation, the immediate players, if you like, that have been pivotal in the low level talks leading to this event and it two leaders that opposite one another. donald trump, i should say, according to the reuters newsagency as saying we're working together and we will get it taken care of.

whatever it refers to remains to be seen. whatever it refers to remains to be seen. we will solve it. the north korean leader saying it is not easy to get here. overcoming all prejudice and obstacles. we are in the digital age, a lot of conversation on social media as is a lwa ys conversation on social media as is always the case. dennis rodman, the former basketball player has been seen on former basketball player has been seen on us media networks crying. his initial response to seeing the two lea d e rs his initial response to seeing the two leaders shaking hands. that is doing the rounds on social media. many a gift and meme created out of that. rodman establishing a relationship with the north korean leader and a relationship of sorts with the us leader. we await the details of what will come out on the

closed meeting currently under way of this historic meeting. daniel davies is a retired lieutenant colonel an hour a defence fell and military expert. he served as us adviser to the korean army while on active duty and he joins adviser to the korean army while on active duty and hejoins me adviser to the korean army while on active duty and he joins me from washington. the eu, a moment you thought would never happen? —— for you? i was first assigned to the korean peninsula as a captain in 1995. steeped in all the plans and the possibility of then going south. i have been to the blue house with several of the photo ops happened with the moon summit and what we have seen today is something i did

not expect to see but i am very happy we have seen it and hopeful it will end up resulting in peace on the korean peninsula and the severity for everyone involved. —— chris geraghty. —— prosperity. severity for everyone involved. —— chris geraghty. -- prosperity. you have looked at this, you know about it, is it something when you see those scenes of kim jong—un, weighed into the crowds last night in singapore, almost in a pop style fashion ahead of these talks? have a bit of a different view on this than many people. i think it is a positive thing. it shows man man is a rational actor who once to see his country improve and he is behaving in ways that are understandable and trying to co—operate with the international community. the meaning of this is that he is not this

unpredictable, possible rogue act that could plunge the world into nuclear war, meaning he that could plunge the world into nuclearwar, meaning he can that could plunge the world into nuclear war, meaning he can be deterred so no matter what happens with these negotiations, whether they end up with a peace treaty, whether something turned sideways and is not work out later on, still the overwhelming us military power can the overwhelming us military power ca n p reve nt the overwhelming us military power can prevent north korea from using these weapons because they do not wa nt to these weapons because they do not want to commit suicide. we have the ability to maintain peace on the korean eyre peninsula. -- korean peninsula. you are on active duty in the korean peninsula what is your summation of how south korea will react to what is unfolding here today? we had positive overtones

from moonjae—in today? we had positive overtones from moon jae—in but today? we had positive overtones from moonjae—in but when we depart here, that is where the crux of the conversation will be? absolutely and thatis conversation will be? absolutely and that is where it has been. while eve ryo ne that is where it has been. while everyone is focused on kimjong—un and donald trump, i think the south korean resident moon jae—in and donald trump, i think the south korean resident moonjae—in deserves a tremendous amount of credit. it took all three to bring this moment together. the activities of moon jae—in and the willingness of kim jong—un to be talking and donald trump to break with tradition and convention none of this would have happened. those three men together have worked together to bring this possibility to the forefront. south korea has a lot at stake here and they have more to lose than anybody else and therefore they have more motivation to see this resolved in a peaceful way than anybody else on

the planet. lieutenant colonel daniel davies thank you forjoining us. daniel davies thank you forjoining us. you are watching special coverage live on bbc news from singapore as we await the details of this historic summit between donald trump and kimjong—un this historic summit between donald trump and kim jong—un currently under way. stay with us as we followed the developments every step of the way. —— follow. hello there. for many days, even weeks now, our weather has been stuck in a rut. long spells of warm sunshine, and just the odd thunderstorm. but, at long last, things are changing. you may not like the change because firstly we're bringing some cooler air in from the north. and then, from the atlantic, through the middle part of the week, we're going to bring quite an active frontal system, an area of low pressure, that will bring some wet and very windy weather, particularly across the north. that will be a bit of a shock to the system.

but the changes are already under way. some cooler conditions through the day ahead. quite a lot of cloud around as well. that cloud will break up through the day, so we will see some spells of sunshine. the best of these likely to be found across parts of wales and the south—west. equally, just the odd scattered showers, but those temperatures down on where they have been. highs of between 15 and 21 degrees. no more mid—20s. now, during tuesday night, we'll see a mixture of clear skies and patchy cloud. it should stay just about dry. it's going to turn into a relatively cool night. temperatures in quite a few places should get down into single digits. we go into wednesday and we start off on a fine note, but frontal systems approaching from the north—west. more on that in a moment. we start wednesday, though, with high pressure across the british isles. so actually not a bad start to the day. good spells of the shine to be had. perhaps just the odd shower breaking out as cloud builds up through the day.

but, up to the north—west, you will already have spotted this. quite a significant change. rain into northern ireland, western scotland by the end of the day. strengthening winds as well. and as we go through wednesday night, a spell of very disturbed weather. very heavy rain pushing in from the west. really strong winds as well. wind gusts easily 40—50mph. but perhaps through the central belt, those wind gusts as strong as 60 mph. we will keep you posted on that forecast for wednesday night into thursday. it all comes courtesy of this, an unusually deep area of low pressure for the time of year. but it will drift away fairly quickly during thursday. so the winds will ease, much of the rain will clear away. and actually things should brighten up through the day. but it is again going to feel relatively cool. those temperatures at best between 15 and 21 degrees. then, as we head towards the end of the week, we stick with that cooler feel. yes, there will be some dry weather.

there will be some spells of sunshine, but also spells of rain at times. that's all from me for now. hello, this is bbc news. i'm babita sharma in singapore, with special coverage of the kim—trump summit. donald trump and kimjong—un have met and shaken hands at the start of their historic one—day summit in singapore. the us president and north korean leader held one—on—one talks with translators on defusing tensions and nuclear disarmament, before joining teams of officials for wider discussions. as those got under way, trump told kim: "working together we will get it taken care of... we will solve it." the much anticipated summit follows a year of exchanging threats — and many months of diplomatic twists and turns. we will have all the details for

you, here at bbc news. a very warm welcome to you in singapore as we are