President Moon Jae-in watches a live broadcast of a meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore, along with his top aides and ministers during a Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday. / Yonhap

By Kim Rahn

"The world will see a major change."

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's remark after his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, Tuesday, has raised expectations of a permanent peace in the region as the two leaders agreed on complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The joint statement that they signed is an important step to resume the process to resolve the issue with the North's nuclear programs, which has been a major security threat to the peninsula and Northeast Asia for decades, and to end 70 years of hostility between North Korea and the U.S.

The detente is expected not only to relieve tension surrounding the peninsula but also change the political and economic dynamics of Northeast Asia.

President Moon Jae-in said the Trump-Kim agreement would be recorded as a historic event that has helped break down the world's last remaining Cold War legacy.

"It is a great victory achieved by both the United States and the two Koreas, and a huge step forward for people across the world who long for peace," Moon was quoted as saying by presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom.

Moon expressed gratitude to Trump and Kim for their determination toward making changes.

"Leaving the dark days of war and conflict behind, we will write a new chapter for peace and cooperation. We'll be there together with North Korea along the way," Moon said. "There may be many difficulties ahead, but we'll never again go back to the past, and never give up on this bold journey."

Moon again expressed his gratitude to Trump when the latter called the South Korean leader after the summit to tell him about the outcome.

At the first meeting of incumbent leaders of the U.S. and North Korea, Trump and Kim emphasized that the summit was the beginning of a new era for the nuclear issue and a new relationship between the two nations.

Kim said it was not easy for the two nations to get the summit take place because they had to overcome decades of conflict and prejudice against each other.

"It is the prelude to peace that we sat together by overcoming past mistakes, which have dragged us, and overcoming all critical eyes from outsiders," Kim said at the beginning of the meeting with Trump and officials from the two nations. "I'm determined to launch big projects that others could not do, by having a great start today."

Trump said, "Today we had a very historic meeting, overcoming our past history and embarking on a new beginning."

In the statement, Kim reaffirmed his commitment to denuclearization, saying the North would comply with the April 27 Panmunjeom Declaration signed by the two Koreas.

Trump said the process of denuclearization would start "very soon."

But the leaders did not use the term of "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization (CVID)," which has been an ongoing demand in negotiations with the North.

Mindful of this, the two nations decided to hold follow-up negotiations as soon as possible to set the details of the process, with the working-level talks being planned for next week.

Trump also said he and Kim would meet "many times."

In a press conference after the summit, he said that he invited Kim to the White House, an offer which Kim accepted, and he would visit Pyongyang as well at an appropriate time.

In return for Pyongyang's denuclearization, Trump promised to provide a security guarantee to the North Korean regime. The North has claimed it would have no reason to have nuclear weapons if U.S. military threats were removed and the regime's security was guaranteed.

As part of such a guarantee, the leaders agreed on a new relationship. But Trump said it is premature to talk about forming diplomatic ties.

Regarding the security guarantee, Trump said there would be no reduction of the size of the U.S. forces in South Korea for now, but said he would stop "war games," meaning the joint military exercise with the South.

Trump and Kim agreed on joint efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the peninsula. The agreement did not meet earlier expectations that the two nations might declare an end to the Korean War (1950-53), but opened the possibility for a declaration later that could involve South Korea and even China.

Trump said in a press conference after the summit that the war "will soon end."

Apart from regime security, the statement did not include what the North could get in return for removing its nuclear weapons, such as the lifting of economic sanctions. These issues may be discussed in later talks because Kim has set economic development as a top policy goal.