June 30, 2019

Trump, ever the showman, delivers his greatest performance at DMZ: ANALYSIS

WATCH: Trump meets Kim Jong Un at Korean DMZ

For Donald Trump the showman, this may have been the greatest performance of his presidency.

In one dramatic gesture, he became the first U.S. president to set foot in North Korea -- and the first to arrange an impromptu meeting with a North Korean dictator via tweet.

Thirty-two hours after @realdonaldtrump extended his Twitter invite to Kim Jong Un, the two men were at the demilitarized zone, shaking hands across the border that separates North and South Korea.

(MORE: President Trump becomes 1st president to step inside North Korea ahead of brief meeting with Kim Jong Un)

Of course, there is no progress yet on dismantling North Korea's nuclear program, just a promise of more talks. But the Kim/Trump show is back on, something that was not guaranteed after the February summit in Hanoi broke off without an agreement. The danger is still there. But the apocalyptic insults are on hold. And so are the nuclear tests and long-range missile tests.

The scene at the DMZ was dramatic and chaotic because there was no agenda, no plan, no advance work. This was improv. North Korean leaders are not known for improv. And neither, for that matter, are U.S. diplomats.

AP Photo/Susan Walsh
President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, Sunday, June 30, 2019.

The first moves seemed well choreographed: the handshake, the walk over to the North Korean side and the walk back to the South Korean side. It's a move that not even a South Korean president had ever done until President Moon Jae-in did it last April.

Then -- chaos.

The two leaders walked around and talked, security guards for both sides were seemingly unclear about where they were going and where the press would be allowed to go. After both men addressed the press outside, they were joined by South Korea's president as they walked into a building, called the House of Freedom, on the South Korean side of the border.

There was lots of yelling as some of the Korean press followed the leaders into the building. There were shouts to the press to back away from the building. Then, moments later, shouts for the U.S. press to come inside.

(MORE: Donald Trump invites Kim Jong Un to meet him at DMZ; North Korea calls offer 'very interesting')

The lone U.S. video camera rolls through it all --- capturing the pushing, yelling, shoving. At one point, incoming White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham appears. She elbows and shoves aside a Korean security guard who was among those trying to block the U.S. press from getting into the room where Kim and Trump were now meeting.

It's one hell of an introduction to the job for the new press secretary.

AP Photo/Susan Walsh
President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea, Sunday, June 30, 2019.

By the time the U.S. press got into the room, Kim was already talking and he kept talking as the White House pool camera fought to get into a position to take it all in.

After the cameras left, Trump and Kim met for another 40 minutes.

Then, Trump escorted Kim Jong Un back to North Korea.

The show goes on.