S. Korean president: Trump has made DMZ 'symbol of peace'

South Korean President Moon Jae-In praised President Trump for his diplomacy with North Korea, telling reporters Trump has made the demilitarized zone separating his country from its communist neighbor “a symbol of peace.”

Standing with Trump on Sunday, Moon noted it was the first time in history that an American president visited the DMZ with a South Korean president.

Moon then remarked on Trump’s dramatic meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, which was about to take place.

“I would like to thank President Trump for making such a bold decision,” he said, according to his interpreter.

Moon said the DMZ is being “transformed from the symbol of confrontation and hostility to a symbol of peace.”

“All of you are actually witnesses to this great change,” he said.

“And the very person who has actually brought this great change out is, of course, President Trump.”

Resumption of talks ‘within weeks’

The unprecedented last-minute meeting between Trump and Kim on North Korean soil was initiated at the G-20 Summit in Tokyo.

Trump announced the resumption of stalled nuclear talks “within weeks” after becoming the first sitting U.S. president to cross the 1953 armistice line separating the two countries.

The approximately 50-minute meeting with Kim was their third.

Trump also invited Kim to visit him at the White House. And Kim said it would be a “great honor” if Trump came to Pyongyang.

Kim ‘never expected’ to see Trump ‘at this place’

Critics argue there were no signs of any progress on denuclearization and fear the high-profile photo-op gives Kim legitimacy amid global efforts to force the communist regime to accept a denuclearization agreement.

“We can only call it historic if it leads to something,” said Victor Cha, a former Asia director at the White House and an NBC News contributor.

Through a translator, Kim said the meeting “means that we can feel at ease.”

“I believe that this will have a positive force on all of our discussions in the future,” he said.

Kim told Trump he “never expected” to see the president “at this place.”

Trump’s summit with Kim in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February collapsed when, according to U.S. officials, Kim demanded that all nuclear sanctions be lifted in exchange for only some of the concessions offered by Washington.

Trump said the new talks will be led by the special representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Sanctions on the North will remain in place, Trump said, but he indicated that could change during the talks. The longstanding U.S. position has been that all sanctions will remain until a final denuclearization agreement is made.

“At some point during the negotiation, things can happen,” Trump said.

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