NewsUS President Donald Trump [official profile] signed an agreement [text] with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in Singapore on Tuesday.
The agreement is supposed to establish relations between the two countries, “build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula,” and repatriate prisoners of war. The statement reads that the “DPRK commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
In a White House press release [text], which referred to the meeting as “historic,” Trump said, “I want to thank Chairman Kim for taking the first bold step toward a bright new future for his people.”
A spokesman for the UN Secretary-General called [statement] the meeting “an important milestone in the advancement of sustainable peace and the complete and verifiable denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.”
On Thursday a UN expert said [JURIST report] that North Korea’s human rights record should be a topic of the meeting. The human rights of North Koreans were not mentioned in the agreement. Some critics also said [Al Jazeera report] that both parties have a history of breaking agreements and that the agreement was not strongly worded enough to cause any real change.
