Kim's nuclear promise 'easy part', it's follow-through that has US worried

North Korea has committed itself to denuclearisation before but resisted the Americans' demand for wide-ranging verification.

President Donald Trump’s top priority when he meets Kim Jong Un in Singapore will be wresting an ironclad commitment that the North Korean leader is prepared to give up his nuclear weapons programme in exchange for an agreement bringing seven decades of hostilities to a close.

But he acknowledged on Thursday that would only be the beginning.

"Sounds a little bit strange, but that's probably the easy part," Trump said at the White House alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “The hard part remains after that.”

Even with such an assurance, the summit will be just the start of an intricate process. U.S.