and nbc's chief global correspondent bill neely on santos island where the summit will take place. but hallie, as we look at the air base there, this is not the same location, right? where kim jong-un landed just several hours before? >> reporter: and let me tell you what we're seeing here at this air base, richard, because i'll tell you, it is not the kind of pomp and circumstance that you sometimes see when president trump arrives in a foreign place. we know you probably can behind me, the stairs are set up. we know in 90 minutes the president will land in air force one, he'll roll in, the stairs will be pulled up as usual, but this is not going to be a fancy ceremony with a lot of pomp and circumstance as you have seen before. it's fairly bare bones because the president is then going to head over to santosa island, or his hotel, just off santosa island, where bill neely is. he will meet with the delegation tomorrow, have a day of prep, and the big action begins. his face-to-face watched around the world. i'll tell you, we have come a long way since fire and fury, a long way sin

the letter over with his right-hand man kim yong-chol, willie, just 48 hours away. >> let's go to bill neely on sentosa island. that is right where the pivotal meeting is taking place. as we thank hallie jackson for that report. bill, talk about the setup there? talk about security there. it's got to be extraordinary. and one of the biggest things to ever happen on this particular island. it's a resort island, we're told. you can confirm that in terms of securities? >> reporter: yeah, it is. this is the biggest security operation in singapore's history. this is a secure city state. almost boarding on authoritarian, a kind of place where if you want a protest on the street or any kind of a demonstration, you have to apply for police position. and here there's been a lockdown on sentosa island for the last 18 to 24 hours we've had apache helicopter information the air. we've had f-16 fighter jets in the air. when the summit takes place on tuesday, there will be air restrictions for aircraft coming into singapore. you could say that this very, very small city state of 5 million people will be i

but first, let's start in singapore with nbc news chief global correspondent, bill neely. bill, last hour, you told me they were partying in pyongyang. why? >> well, i suggested that they might be. i don't actually know that -- >> we're speaking figuratively here. >> reporter: yeah, the elite of pyongyang here must be pinching themselves, because like i said, this is exactly what kim's father and his grandfather could only dream about. the respect and recognition of the states and being treated as an equal. and kim, you know, he was an inteational pariah. now suddenly a partner, a man who has come in from the cold, you know, international leaders now lining up to meet but you know, he's given very, very little away. he has reaffirmed something he agreed two months ago, to work towards the complete denuclearization of the korean peninsula. no word of verifiable, no irreversib irreversible. as you heard president trump there, he said, there may be international inspectors in there, in the future. he also seemed to place a lot of emphasis on k has been doing. those explosions

. >> joining us is nbc news chief global correspondent bill neely, and mr. park, the leader of the working group. we just saw kim jong-un sightseeing, strolling around. with what, if any, is the significance of kim jong-un even being away from pyongyang, north korea. >> reporter: absolutely extraordinary images. few things strike me. number one, we hardly ever see images of kim jong-un in real time. even when he went to china, we only knew about it when he came back. then the images were released. all the images of him usually are by state media, carefully controlled, even altered to give his people the image of this all powerful dictator. the first break in that was the summit with south korea a couple months ago. tonight, we see another break. nobody expected him to leave the hotel. an extraordinary image. you know, whatever you think of kim, seeing a selfie of kim jong-un, taken by south korea's foreign minister, seeing him surrounded by bodyguards, going up to the 57th floor, i should say, of a luxury hotel here, looking out over singapore, really quite

that strikes me as just the first of them. >> bill neely, thanks very much. kelly o'donnell. much the cover. we begin our full time coverage of the at 8:00 p.m. top. >>> hours before the meeting mike pompeo called this a quote mission of peace but also affirmed that firm american objective. >> the ultimate objective we seek with diplomacy of north korea has not changed. the complete verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the korean peninsula is the yoenl outcome that the united states will accept. >> questions remain over what exactly that complete verifiable denuclearization entails and what diplomacy looks will like. let's bring in michael allen, worked with george w. bush and now the managing director of beacon global strategy. also with us, mike fuchs, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for east asia and pacific affairs. now a senior fellow at the center for american progress. thank you for being here. michaelen, let's start with you. we are just not going into this summit, this meeting with a clear view of what is supposed to -- what success looks like

nbc's chief global correspondent bill neely who's here in singapore. t to you michael green, i that a fair comparison, that this president at least got to meet with a north korean leader, unlike his predecessors? >> bill clinton and george w. bush could easily have met with the leader of north korea. kim jong-il at the end of the clinton administration came close to getting bill clinton to pyongyang and president clinton i think wisely pulled back because he could see the north koreans really weren't serious about denuclearizing. when i was in the white house, the staff of george w. bush, the north koreans made several overtures to get bush to meet with kim jong-il. they wanted it because they wanted to demonstrate to the people that the nuclear weapons test had bought the american president. that it had won them a reputation and prestige around the world. so bush, clint and obama could have done this, could have had a summit. that's not new. what would be new is if the president really got them to denuclearize. we just haven't seen any of that yet. >>

bill neely has been watching a lot of this from sentosa island. bill, you're not far from where we are on set, but you're across the water way, you're across the bridge, a different bridge than the one that i think we're seeing kim jong-un on. talk us through some of ease images that we're seeing. >> reporter: well, extraordinary images. we have learned to expect the unexpected. but we didn't expect this. so for one hour and 20 minutes now kim has escaped his hotel and is taking in the sites of singapore. you know, hallie, in a way singapore is exactly the kind of place he would like pyongyang to be. i've been to north korea four times and they're always showing off their latest attraction, their sky scraper, they're dolphin airium, their theme parks. but obviously they've got nothing quite like this. we think kim has just come from the 57th floor of the marina bay sands hotel which has a commanding view not only of where you are but w i am here on sentosa island where the summit will take place. and as we've seen, i don't think that was a selfie b

nbc's bill neely reports from moscow. >> reporter: russia has been invaded. more than a million foreigners here for the most watched global sports event -- soccer's world cup. and if there's one street in the whole world right now where the whole world meets, it's right here in moscow. fans supporting 32 countries. the u.s. team failed to qualify, but that hasn't stopped tens of thousands of americans coming, buying morets tic than any country outside russia. >> it was about getting to see then iggest starse world on the stage. >> i've been to some nfl games, this was no comparison. >> an adrenaline >>rush? ou could feel it in your bones. >> reporter: it's already hugely >> into the middle. big drive, goal >> reporter: the most competitive tournament ever. stadiums full, no terrorism, no violence. the leader who helped bring it here, reveling in russian success. even its team doing well. for vladimir putin, this world p is a propaganda coup. a showcase for russia's revival under his presidency, of russian power and organization. who will win the world cu p vl

this breaking news certainly historic, we'll cover this with hallie jackson, and bill neely. >>> so halle, where is the president now? i believe we saw him arrives there at the shangri-la hotel? >> he's back in his how old. it is 12 hours ahead of east coast time, where you are. it's just about time for the president to get some sleep before tomorrow with the singaporean prime minister. he was greeted here by the foreign minister, and for much of the day, he'll be dose prep, versus briefings, getting ready for that meeting, about 36 hours from now with kim jong-un. most of the action here at the air base has settled down. air force one is still on the tarm tarmac, but the president got out. he said he believed he was feeling very good about the summit when asked by some reporters who were a bit closer to him. this is significant. just hours before the president habitsed, we saw kim jong-un arrive here as well. we had seen him on the dmz with the south korean president, but this is the first time a sitting u.s. president meets with the leader of north korea, coming as a critical geopolitic

joining us now from singapore, bill neely, chief global correspondent for nbc news. eugene scott is political reporter for "the washington post." lock lynn markey -- loughlin ma. singapore is not a big place, it is you and 3,000 other reporters descending on it to see what happens here on tuesday. set the scene for us. what happens between now and then. >> yeah, david, you are absolutely right. at the moment the two leaders are in their respective hotels, i assume, since 2:00 in the morning that they are asleep. but with president trump you never can be sure. and tomorrow there is one visit by president trump to singapore's prime minister li. tim jong kim jong-un saw him this afternoon after he arrived. kim jong-un looking very relashgserela relaxed. he thanked li for hosting the summit, saying the whole world will be watching. that is absolutely true. they'll be watching in russia, in china, especially, of course, in japan and south korea where north korea's nuclear weapons have been a threat for decades. this is an extraordinary historic summit. the two men are wit

i think bill neely did a great job on characterizing the issues at play right now. and the concerns that are our european allies have about mr. trump's seeming willingness to forget the past, to forget the annexation of crimea. the other transgressions over the years. so i think it is important we have these contacts with russia. but the fact mr. trump is going to give a summit to mr. putin, i think mr. trump looks at this in a different way about what is best in the national interest. >> there's a couple of things he said to us in the oval office yesterday of what he wants to bring up. syria, russia's support of ukraine. crimea. he did not answer whether or not he will bring up election interference. given his tweet this morning, there are concerns among his critics he doesn't seem to be buying his own intel officials' thoughts on this. why does the president still doubt this? >> that's a good question. there is anonymity within that the russians did interfere in the election. i think he's turning a blind eye to it because it doesn't help what he wants to do. it po

nbc's kelly o'donnell and bill legal neely are in singapore. is the white house happy with the way things turned out? are they happy with what donald trump and america walked away with in that meeting? >> so far, there seems to be a gloe after the summit. er there in a window where they are really focused on the historic nature of it and believing that the meeting itself was an accomplishment and that there is a road map going forward. the president says that kim jocken has a total plan, those were his words, to denuclearize. at this point, i think it will take time for the white house to sort of digest the reaction and then of course the following steps that will be required as the president is now in guam, touched down there for the opportunity to refuel air force one. and he might be reminded of some of the threatatmosphere, because the governor of guam is possibly stopping by, we're told, for a brief hello with the president. you remember, he had been threatened and the island had been threatened by kim jong-un with his nuclear capability a

nbc's bill neely reports from singapore now. >> reporter: kim jong-un was the first toer arrive h in's the last to leave. leaving on a chinese government this after a historic summit that was perhaps bigger on symbol than on substance and it's being treated b north korea as a big win. by president trump, too. >> our unprecedented meeting, b the firween an american president and a leaderf north korea proves that real change is indeed possible. >> but north korea simply agree to what it agreed to two months ago with south korea, the u.s. has agreed to give northorea security guarantees. >> this is a good step. we've moved further away from the risk of war and confli.. the u and north korea are talking at the highest level, but theren hasn't b any concrete commitment for even specific commitment to action or a timetable. >> reporter: and the there's a i bombshell, pnt trump saying he has canceled joint exercises with south korea what were due to take place in august. secretary of state mike pompeo is o his way to seoul to explain to the south koreans exactly what that means. bill neely,

kelly o'donnell and bill neely are both in singapore. the choreography of this event which is tonight for us, today for you over there in singapore, how is it going to go down? the two men are coming in from different sides of the room? >> yes. what we expect that will be most notable is that there will be time for donald trump and kim jong-un and their translators to be alone togetr and to have an opportunity to size each other up, to get to know each other, to continue whatever sort of communication has existed between them up until now. n that the president has not publicly answered the question when asked if they have spoken in the past. we know that there have been letters exchangesed betwed betw. this will be a real test by both men of what do they want out of this? with the flashes and celebrity that's surrounded this, the interest and attention from a serious point of view, as well as just the event quality of some big thing that's happening which you could get really anywhere in the world and singapore has certainly embraced thi

. >> nbc's chief global correspondent bill neely is joining us from the place to be on tuesday. thank you for being here. we know that both leaders are planning to be there at 9:00 a.m. local time. what is the very latest on all of this? and also, set the scene for us, won't you, with regard to what that place is all about. >> reporter: well, just to pick up from what kelly was saying, yes, the two leaders are in their respective hotels at the moment, just half a mile apart. they have never been so close. but it's inconceivable that kim jong-un hasn't been briefed out, doe't know about what happened in canada. as kelly was alluding to, he may be -- the north koreans may be thinking, so president trump leaves a meeting with his friends and allies having agreed on a communique then on the plane decides to go back on his word. what is his word worth? they'll also be looking at a g7 -- look, i've been to these meetings. they're usually highly predictable. this was anything but. so i suppose expect the unexpected. that's another lesson kim jong-un will be drawing from what happened.

. >> let's bring in bill neely who's also been on the ground in singapore, he's also live with us. me of the questions put out there is what might they be able to accomplish, what is the plus that peter is alluding to here? some of the discussion was the a armcist that was signed 65 years ago, that might be possibly on the agenda. what are you hearing? >> reporter: as peter was saying we don't know what's on the agenda and officials are discussing to meet from the choreography of the meeting, is it one on one? how long does it go on? where do they have their firsthand shake? to a possible communique at the end of it. we don't know what's on the agenda, what might be in the communique, but the plus might include some declaration firmer than we saw when it was the north korea/south korea summit about a formal end to the korea war which ended in 1953. so seven decades officially still war between north and south korea and the u.s. beyond that, we're pretty certain there won't be a nuclear deal. this is not the moment for that, but we don't know if they will talk about denuclearization.

. >> nbc news chief global correspondent bill neely is here in singapore with me. the big question is hows all of this going to play at home for kim jong-un? we saw his motorcade leaving the hotel here in singapore heading presumably out to the airport to catch his flight back to pyongyang. what happens when he lands? >> reporter: well, hallie, i think it must be party time in pyongyang. the elite must be pinching themselves because they've got the prize that they always hoped to get for decades, the respect of the one country they've always wanted, the united states. and recognition as if you like an equal partner. and for kim, he's out of international isolation and he's being praised not as a pariah but as a partner. so what's going to be in the north korean media tomorrow morning? let's start with the first ten seconds of the summit and have a look at what's behind the two leaders. there are 12 flags there, six north korean, six american. so equal status. at the meetings, the same number of officials from north korea as there were from the united states. equal

joining me now, bill neely. haven't got ton see this letter, but any idea what might be in it? because the idea of what denuclearization is is a big deal, and we've yet to hear both sides agree upon it. >> yes, stephanie. honestly, no. we don't know what's in the letter. we're making intelligence guesses, but first of all, it is a direct response to the letter donald trump sent cancelling the summit. secondly, this is a big deal. this is a direct communication between the leader of north korea and the president of the united states. in the history between these two countries, that's extremely rare. now, there's the late statement kim made was yesterday to the russian foreign minister in which he said the will for denuclearization remains fixed but as you said, what do we all mean? what does he mean by denuclearization? i don't think that will be spelled out in the letter. it will be delivered personally by kim yung. in north korean culture, they don't do e-mails much because of the limited power of the internet.

. >> bill neely, our chief global correspondent joins us live from moscow. sident putin has said the thing he wants, he says u.s. politics are getting in the way of normalized relations between russia and the united states. the irony in that is that russia continues to be very involved in playing around with u.s. politics. >> reporter: that's exactly what leapt out to me, ali. he began the conversation with john bolton by saying -- he said it several times before, that the bad relations between russia and the u.s. are due to internal u.s. politics. in other words, somehow not the annexation of crimea or invasion of ukraine. not the bombing of syria. not interfering in u.s. politics. pretty strange. he also says russia has never sought confrontation. well, maybe not direct confrontation with the united states, but meddling the in u.s. elections, clearly yes. and you know, all those other things like ukraine and crimea, obviously they do not add to a good relationship with the united states. so the summit is on. the talks with mr. bolton over. we will know tomo

be bill neely was saying we've helped kim jong-un from international isolation to come degree. good or bad? >> i think having low-level, immediamedium medium-level, and high-level talks with north korea is a good idea. the reason this hasn't been done is because he's the exact reprehensible person that malcolm has already described. rather, we've put him up on a pedestal now as a legitimate leader in the world who is beloved and all those photos ended up on north korean prop gran da the next day. kim jong-un without promising anything short of working toward a very vague goalt is not in any way defined has come back with a huge domestic win for himself. because he's already told his people that he's satisfied with his nuclear program and he's satisfied with the missiles t have, and allhas to do now is focus on the economics. so the more legitimate he looks means the more he's going to be able to bring foreign investment, sanctions ents and bring that second goal to his people. and last but not least, this sets up a precedence to all those states that may be thinking they may wa

. >> now i want to bring in nbc chief global correspondent bill neely live in singapore and director of asian security at the asia society, lindsay ford. bill, to you first. we are looking at these historic sittingether.se twoeaders a lot of people have already said to me this morning take a breath, give credit where credit is due. these two men are sitting down. but give us a history lesson. was president trump able to get a meeting that no previous president was able to get? or was he willing to take a meeting that no previous president would consider taking with an autocratic leader, a massive human rights violator? i think back to 2007 when president obama said he would be willing to meet with the north korean leader and he was blasted from democrats, from republicans. sean hannity said this shows what poor foreign policy experience obama has. fast forward to 2018 and sean hannity is saying this is extraordinary that trump achieved this, and we're saying look at this amazing thing that he did that no one else could. is it no one else could or no one else would? >> reporter: yeah,

. >> i want t bng bill neely into the conversation who is standing by for us in sentosa, singapore. bill, you've had a front-row seat to all of this over the last 24 hours. take us through what you've seen so far. >> well, what i've seen is the document we've all seen now, two ct, really only one page. comprehensive document but it ry does look thin. it's more noteworthy for the words it leaves out, like irreversible, than the words that are in there and some of the words, as chris hill was saying, almost sound like they were dictated or have come straight from pyongyang. for example, it talks about the summit become a an epochal event of easing great tensions. that doesn't sound like it came from the state department but pyongyang. i think skeptics will be disappointed. i was going back over old agreements. there was one in 1992 between north korea and south korea in which north korea agreed not to test, manufacture, produce, receive, possess, store, deploy or use nuclear weapons. dollar lot of specifics there. they also agreed to mutual inspections. there is nothing like that in th

. >>> joining us live from sentosa island in singapore, nbc news chief global correspondent bill neelyll, set the scene for us. >> reporter: yeah, good morning, mika. well, the stage is set here on sentosa island for the summit tomorrow morning, but it's quite clear the script is still being written. the u.s. and north korean delegations have been meeting today, twice one morning session, meeting today. mike pompeo saying it's moving quite quickly but it looks like those discussions may still be going on. and they're covering everything from the choreography of this meeting, the hand shake, will it be a one-on-one meeting with two translators, what happens after that, how long does it last for, everything from the choreography to the communique at the end. and, again, from what mike pompeo was saying, it's quite clear they don't have a final agreement. pompeo saying tomorrow we'll get the clearest indication if kim jong-un accepts our vision of the complete denuclearization of the korean peninsula. and, again, interesting, mike pompeo using the words north korea has been using for a lo

bill neely. >> janice mackie friar. incredible two hours or so. "morning joe" is picking up in two minutes. sponsored by -- oh, look... another anti-wrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works in just one week. with the fastest retinol formula to visibly reduce wrinkles. neutrogena®. >>> mr. president, what surprised you the most about kim? >> great personality and smile. >> is he worthy negotiator? >> he is a worthy negotiator. negotiating on behalf of his people. a very worthy, very smart negotiator. absolutely. we had a terrific day and we learned a lot about each other and about our countries. >> what did you learn about him, sir? >> i learned he's a very talented man and i also learned that he loves his country very much. >> will you be meeting again, sir? >> will you see each other? >> we'll meet many times. thank you very much, everybody. >> wow. something the world has never seen. the sitting president of the united states shaking hands with the leader of north korea. president trump and north

. >> we are joined now live from singapore by nbc news global correspondent bill neely. are there any indication about what the two leaders have just signed? >> reporter: no, none whatsoever. they've signed the document. president trump calls it very important and pretty comprehensive. you know, the easy part is over. the photo op and signing this document. now the hard part begins. whatever is in it, and we'll be listening very closely and watching very closely as your previous contributor said for words like denuclearization or verifiable or irreversible. but, you know, the hard part will take place over the next months and years. lots of fine words here. you know, kim said the world will see a major change. it's an historic meeting. we're determined to leave the past behind. but we've heard fine words from the north koreans before. i mean, they've signed agreements before. 1994 chiefly, but also in the 2000s. agreements to shutdown a nuclear reactor, agreements to freeze work on nuclear weapons and tests. even signing the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. 1994, big agre

. >>> let's turn to bill neely. he's in singapore where the talks are being held. ood morning. well, as far as otto warmbier is concerned, what an extraordinary anniversary because it is 364 days, 1 day short, of a year, since he was released by north korea in a coma. he was one of four american prisoners at the time. of course, since then, the three others have been released by north korea. it's a country with one of the worst human rights records in the world. and president trump was also asked directly about that at the news conference. and he said, there's not much i can do about that right now. talking about the 100,000 prisoners in north korean gulags. he said, i think they're one of the great winners from this summit, as a group. pretty extraordinary statement. he also said that human rights were discussed briefly with kim jong-un. later on, he said they were discussed at length. the other surprising thing about the news conference was the announcement, of course, about military exercises. and it is causes some anxiety in south korea. the president saying tha