[ Source: BBC ]
The cameras struggled to get a steady shot as Donald Trump took his first historic steps into enemy territory with Kim Jong Un.
It was 2019 and the then-45th president of the United States patted the arm of the North Korean leader, then on cue, Kim led him across the threshold that separates his country from South Korea – two countries officially still at war.
Behind them, within the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), it was chaos as TV crews jostled to get a clear view through a line of North Korean bodyguards who seemed surprised by the onslaught of US media.
At one point, a reporter asked for help and the White House press secretary had to pull them from behind a line of security to the Trump-Kim photo call.
This meeting had been hastily organised – and it showed.
“I never expected to meet you at this place,” said Kim to Trump.
The US president had organised the last-minute rendezvous on Twitter, as it was then known, just 30 hours earlier when he suggested meeting Chairman Kim at the DMZ “just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!”
The impromptu invitation created a third and last incredible TV moment between a showman president and a once reclusive dictator.
Now, it appears there could be more. Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview broadcast last Thursday that he will once again “reach out” to Kim.
“I got along with him,” Trump added. “He is not a religious zealot. He happens to be a smart guy.”
The BBC understands that there has been very little contact between the US and North Korea in the last four years during the Biden administration. Washington has sent messages but there has been no reply from Pyongyang.
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