NPR

Trump And Kim Meeting: The Start Of A Deal Or 'Just Some Nice Pics And Pageantry?'

Whether the symbolism of President Trump stepping into North Korea carries with it the promise of change, or little more than dramatic optics remains the subject of debate.

Updated at 4:16 p.m. ET

It is too soon to tell whether the much-hyped meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un on Sunday will be remembered as a televised spectacle, or the start of a breakthrough in talks with the nuclear-armed country.

But Trump did become the first sitting American president to venture into North Korea.

"I was proud to step over the line," Trump told Kim about crossing the demarcation line at the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas. "It is a great day for the world."

The celebratory mood seemed a long way from the and the two leaders have previously engaged in, a hostile dynamic that has cooled down over the course of what President Trump

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