President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un met in Singapore on June 11, 2018 in a historic summit decades in the making, ending in an agreement to denuclearize Korea.

The relationship began with President Trump calling Kim “little rocket man” and promising to give “fire and fury” when Kim performed missile tests. Then, it was revealed on May 8th that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to North Korea to discuss the possibility of a meeting between Kim and President Trump. The prospects improved dramatically when three American hostages being held in labor camps returned to America with Pompeo. This was seen as a way to lower tensions ahead of the summit because the last hostage North Korea released, Otto Warmbier, died shortly after his return because he was overworked.

It appeared as if a summit on June 12 was going to occur until, later in May, National Security Adviser John Bolton and Vice President Mike Pence compared their goal of complete denuclearization in exchange for security to a tactic used in Libya in 2011. The Libya deal was very similar, but their dictator was killed. This caused North Korean officials to fire back harshly at the White House. Ultimately, the harsh language convinced President Trump to write a letter canceling the summit, but he eventually decided to have it in an effort to make peace.

Both nations were extremely excited and anxious for the summit. North Korean news is heavily influenced and always reported late so they can always claim success, but the summit was announced several days before, proving North Korea was truly making an effort to create friendly relations.

The meeting began with a handshake and both leaders even seemed to smile. Before the one-on-one meeting (with two translators), reporters were allowed to ask questions where both Kim and President Trump expressed high hopes for the summit.

Then, they met again with some North Korean officials, Bolton, and Pompeo. The summit ended with the agreement signing ceremony where North Korea agreed to completely denuclearize in exchange for American security protection.

“I think we’re making progress” said junior Nicole Lampariello.

While the agreement was a step in the right direction, it was criticized by many as being too vague and not addressing important issues such as North Korean human rights. President Trump, however, sees the meeting as a success and hopes to meet again soon to continue the progress.