'It was not easy to get here': Kim and Trump meet in Singapore
Singapore: It's official, the US President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un have met.
They started their historic moment at the Singapore Capella Hotel after shaking hands to the loud noise of the world's cameras shortly after 11am (AEST).
Kim tried a smile while Trump glared as they shook hands. Both looked serious as they turned to face glare of world’s media.
When Kim and Trump shook hands, Kim greeted him with the words: "Nice to meet you Mr President." Later when they sat together in front of TV cameras, Kim said: "Past practices and prejudices were obstacles on our way forward, but we overcame all of them and are here today."
The two men then walked together along the hotel's colonnade to begin their private 45-minute meeting with their interpreters, while their entourages wait nearby.
"Nice to meet you Mr President," Kim said moments later as he sat alongside Trump, against a backcloth of North Korean and US flags, beaming more broadly as Trump gave him a thumbs up.
With cameras of the world's press trained on them, Trump and Kim built an initial atmosphere of friendship.
"I feel really great. We’re going to have a great discussion and will be tremendously successful. It's my honour and we will have a terrific relationship, I have no doubt," Trump said.
"It was not easy to get here ... There were obstacles but we overcame them to be here," Kim replied.
It is the first-ever meeting of sitting US and North Korean leaders.
Earlier, Trump predicted he would have a 'great relationship' with Kim.
After the meeting, they are scheduled to hold a larger meeting and working lunch.
Trump's chief of staff, national security adviser and secretary of state are among those expected to join.
Minutes before his arrival, Trump tweeted that top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow had suffered a heart attack and was being treated at a hospital back in Washington.
"Our Great Larry Kudlow, who has been working so hard on trade and the economy, has just suffered a heart attack. He is now in Walter Reed Medical Centre," Trump said on Twitter.
A long-time television commentator, Kudlow, 70, was hired by Trump in March to replace Gary Cohn as director of the National Economic Council.
Kudlow joined the president at the Group of Seven summit in Quebec on Friday and Saturday.
On Sunday, he accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of stabbing the US "in the back."
- with agencies
More to come