Kim-Trump begin new era of ‘terrific relationship’ 

US President Donald Trump shook hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Tuesday and welcomed the beginning of a "terrific relationship", a momentous step in an improbable courtship that has opened a new era for the worlds largest nuclear power and the most reclusive one.

The two leaders met at the Capella Hotel on Singapore's Sentosa Island on Tuesday morning. In a carefully choreographed meeting at around 9 am, Trump and Kim strode towards each other, arms extended, in the red-carpeted reception area of the grand Capella Hotel, in Singapore's Sentosa Island, reports The New York Times.

Trump and Kim then began around 45-minute meeting behind closed door before having a working meeting with their respective delegations and a lunch, Efe reported.

Trump arrived at the Capella Hotel at 8.14 am in the morning, after a journey of less than 15 minutes from Shangri-la Hotel, where he stays. Kim left a little later from his hotel, St. Regis, and arrived shortly after 8.30 am at the meeting place.

The initial handshake took place in a courtyard of the British colonial-style hotel, amid US and North Korean flags that flank the red carpet.

Trump said his historic summit with Kim was going "very, very good" and predicted an eventual agreement on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons, a gut-level assessment Trump had claimed earlier in the week he would make within the first minutes of the meeting, reports the CNN. “Excellent relationship,” Trump said as he emerged from one-on-one talks after 38 minutes.

Acknowledging the meeting, Kim said, “There will be challenges ahead but we will work with Trump. We overcame all kinds of skepticism and speculations about this summit and I believe that this is good for the peace.”

Tuesday's summit in Singapore, which aims to address the possible denuclearisation of North Korea, is the first between the two countries' sitting leaders after nearly 70 years of confrontation in the wake of the Korean War (1950-1953), and 25 years of failed negotiations and tensions over the North Korean nuclear programme.

This is a developing story. Will be updated.