this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. global investors hope for more stability with the historic "summit of the century" between the leaders of the world's most powerful and the most secretive economies. will donald trump and kim jong—un‘s historic meeting spur north korea to start opening its little—known economy? and the us dollarjumped to a 3—week high today, while stock markets in asia have been choppy as traders weigh up what the trump—kim meeting means for the nuclear stand—off on the korean peninsula. there's no other story in town really — the historic meeting between us president donald trump and north korean leader kimjong—un in singapore in what's been described as the "summit of the century".

butjust over a year ago, the trump administration cranked up economic pressure on north korea, to get mr kim to come to the table. in a moment, we'll talk to an expert about the country's little—known economy. but first let's go to singapore andjoin mariko oi, part of our team there following the story. i know you have been based outside the hotel where kim jong—un i know you have been based outside the hotel where kimjong—un has been staying. everybody is watching and waiting, certainly around the global market falls. give us your perspective so far. i am not sure if you can see some of the tripods behind me. earlier, when kimjong—un left for the summit with president trump there were at least 50 journalists and cameramen tried to get that shot and many are from

japan and south korea, those are the two markets which would be dead should there be any concrete agreement between the two leaders. —— which would be effected. as far asi —— which would be effected. as far as i can see, japan's nikkei has been very choppy. they are trying to figure out what it means. when it means to opening up north korea's economy and bring it at up to the level of south korea, that is a long step forward, taking many months and yea rs step forward, taking many months and years but experts have been talking about it, comparing it to germany with the combination of east and west germany and the trillions of dollars that needed to be invested back then and they think the money that needs to be invested in north korea would even be more. and that

the south korean economy alone cannot support that and that there should be some chinese and american involvement as well but, as i said, it is many years away if they are at ease even one. “— it is many years away if they are at ease even one. —— if there is one. donald trump and kim jong—un‘s landmark meeting has spurred hope that north korea may finally start to open its economy and give the world clues as to how it actually works. north korea stopped releasing detailed statistical data in the 1960s, so it's difficult to get any accurate economic figures. here's what we know about the world's most secretive state. the country has substantial reserves of iron ore, coal, limestone, and magnesite. and is thought to have a number of rare metal resources. but sanctions have meant their export is banned. the workforce is about

12 million strong, 65% are employed in industry and services sectors. and their wage is the lowest in the region. a north korean working in kaesong was paid $180 a month in 2016, while a south korean doing the same job earned about $900 a month. china is the north's main trading partner, accounting for over 80% of both imports and exports. but trade dropped as much as 35% in 2017 as stricter sanctions came into force. miha hribernik is head of asia at global risk consultancy verisk maplecroft. shejoins us from our she joins us from our bureau shejoins us from our bureau in

singapore. i am sure you are watching this extremely closely. we talked about north korea and the little window. what is the potential of this economy? —— the little we know. it is one of those are very rare, the last remaining frontier markets were literally everything, from basic infrastructure to every imaginable industry and service sector has to be rebuilt from scratch. investment opportunities at least on paper are tremendous, in north korea. you mentioned some of the commodities and raw material reserves they have. the potential is there but, at the same time, regardless of what happens at the summit today, the barriers to investment in north korea, even if they begin the process of opening it

up— they begin the process of opening it up— and there is a big question about that— but there is also corruption, the lack of any respect for property rights, deficient legislation, there is in norman is, in norman is —— enormous barriers. we are hearing from some observers that kim jong—un‘s this idea is the seachange in the north korean economy and that is what he wants to ta ke economy and that is what he wants to take home with him and what he has achieved in the talks with the us president. we saw him out on the town in singapore and you could not have two countries further apart in terms of development at tetra. —— and etc. what would he be wanting?

kim seems like an intelligent leader who knows exactly what he wants and we are certain that he is aware that economic development is a key to ensuring his regime's survival. that is non— negotiable. we have seen north korean newspapers print the photograph of him with the singaporean skyline in the background that... 0k. sorry to interrupted. we just want to talk you through the pictures we are receiving right now, live from sentosa we see the us president and the north korean leader having a stroll around this luxury resort. a big opportunity for the world's media to see them after their working lunch. they do both look

quite relaxed. they would have talked a lot. in a couple of minutes... reporter: will you open up minutes... reporter: will you open up your presence? donald trumpjust saying we are going to announce in just a couple of minutes. we could be getting a press conference soon at than we first thought as its two leaders disappear out of you. that was a quick moment for the world's media to see after what was described as their working lunch. this historic meeting between the us president and the leader of north korea. we will be keeping you right

across the event and going live to the press conference as and when and if it happens. president trump's economic advisor larry kudlow has suffered a heart attack. he was at the weekend's acrimonious g7 summit and later appeared on american television attacking the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau, who he accused of stabbing america in the back. his doctors expect him to make a full recovery. now let's brief you some other business stories: leading us bank citi has issued a stark warning about the automatioln of human jobs. citi's president jamie forese, suggested that it will shed up to half of its 20,000 technology and operations staff in the next five years, as machines supplant humans at a faster pace. more footage now, live, from the luxury resort of sentosa just off

the citystate of singapore. some have said it is an ideal location for this historic summit to take place. you can see behind the lady in the foreground, kim jong—un and donald trump as they talk. it looks quite casual following this historic day. they had their first 45 minutes alone with two translators followed by other delicate and officials who joined them forfurther by other delicate and officials who joined them for further discussions and then they had a working lunch, what was described as a working lunch. the two of them talking to those around them, casually, it looks like stop i would imagine they are both relieved after these talks. we go live to singapore. essentially what we have seen is the

two having had lunch, they had a walk around the capella hotel, the luxury hotel on sentosa island and we heard briefly from president trump saying to reporters who were gathered there, filming the two taking their walk around the garden, saying briefly that they were signing something and we do not know quite what that is and i have robert kelly here again. we were both watching when we saw that happen. you have been with us throughout the coverage. what do we think trump meant? possibly some kind of denuclearisation statement. long on

principle, short on detail. is that the signing of a peace treaty? that would be legally difficult because you would get china and the un involved in that. it could be a shadow peace treaty... but you still need china and south korea to take pa rt need china and south korea to take part so i not sure... we are still looking at live footage. they are motioning towards the motorcade. we are getting some close—ups that the capella hotel and movements of them. we have been speculating, will we really do not know what they're to be talking about. they will be meeting at... that will be an interaction with reporters at 4pm with president trump. at the moment

we have just been watching this live coverage of this 5—star hotel where they have both been meeting and a very historic thing that we watched this morning. essentially we are sold to shake hands. it has been dubbed the historic handshake, the "summit of the century". really quite extraordinary what we have been witnessing in the last few hours. it will be the "summit of the ce ntu ry" hours. it will be the "summit of the century" eve president trump can pull some sort of deal from the north korean. he needs to have them on the record committing to something substantial. if it is just a declaration ripples that it is more process and kicking the can down the road. it is ok, it is better than nothing but that has been a lot of symbolism in the last

few months and we need to see north korean make some commitment. reports suggesting that kim jong—un is due to leave at two p.m.. this is what reports were saying. we cannot verify that as well. we are seeing the motorcades, the kim delegation motorcade outside the hotel. you know, it is extraordinary, some people describing this meeting as speed dating because of the brevity. extraordinary that they can manage to suss out quite so much an issue as compo is as denuclearisation in essentially less than a day. trump and his delegation will leave tonight. it is probably quit pretty

unlikely there will be some sort of deal. if i had to guess that would make a rhetoric but that is not important. denise abe san plan and movement in the future. —— there needs to be some plan. the declaration in the korean summer was long in principle andy short in detail and again at the candle was kicked down the road. —— the can. a p pa re ntly kicked down the road. —— the can. apparently they are moving to assigning ceremonial. according