美国有线新闻 CNN 特朗普与金正恩会晤筹备工作启动 能否实现见面仍是未知数

CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: No sitting U.S. president has ever met with a leader of North Korea, but that could change completely just months from now, and that's our first story on CNN 10.

After World War II, Korea got its independence from Japan and split in half, a Democratic style government formed in South Korea, a communist styled government formed in North Korea, and that's where they are today, despite the war that followed North Korea's evasion 1 of the South in 1950.

The U.S. supported South Korea in that war and the two countries are still close allies. North Korea has been their common rival.

But this year, there have been a series of events that appear to have moved the Koreas toward a friendlier relationship. And though the leaders of North Korea and the U.S. were exchanging threats and insults last year, they're now planning to hold a face to face meeting. That was announced on Thursday night.

South Korean negotiators who'd recently visited the North then traveled to the White House. Shortly after they arrived, U.S. President Donald Trump 2 said he'd accept the meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. President Trump has credited America's sanctions, its penalties on North Korea with helping 3 bring them at this point. He says those sanctions will stay in place until North Korea agrees to get rid of its nuclear weapons.

That's a major goal of the international community.

Critics say North Korea's leader is a brutal 4 dictator who increased his power through murder and the American leader shouldn't reward him with a presidential meeting.

And while the details of that meeting still have to be figured out, just the fact that it's being discussed is historic.

CHUNG EUI-YONG, SOUTH KOREAN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER 5: President Trump appreciated the greeting and said he would meet Kim Jong-un.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: U.S. President Donald Trump has agreed to a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. This would have been unthinkable just a short time ago and yet here we are. How did this happen?

Especially after much the Kim Jong-un era being defined by scores of missile launches, nuclear tests, escalating 6 tensions, the United States ratcheting up sanctions on North Korea.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, we put the strongest sanctions on Korea that we have ever put on a country.

RIPLEY: The U.S. threatening military action if diplomacy 7 doesn't work out.

TRUMP: We will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.

RIPLEY: There were times that these two countries seem at the brink 8 of war, and yet now, we are on the verge 9 of what could be a political breakthrough.

But it comes with many risks for all parties involved. You don't get much higher than a summit between two heads of state. Normally, these things take months if not years of preparation, if they even happen at all. Previous U.S. presidents have been asked by the North Koreans for meetings.

This is something that North Korea's founder 10 Kim Il-sung wanted.

The second leader in North Korea, Kim Jong-il, also tried to meet with a U.S. president, with President Clinton near the end of his second term. It didn't happen. President Bush, President Obama never really seriously considered a meeting with the North Koreans. But now, Kim Jong-un has invited President Trump. President Trump said yes on the spot, and now, they have just a matter of weeks to prepare for what could be the most consequential 11 moments so far when it comes to foreign policy for the U.S. president.

And there are many risks involved. What if this doesn't work out? What if they don't hit it off? What if it goes horribly wrong? Then where do you go from there?

Some analysts 12 believe this could actually push the United States and North Korea closer to the brink of war if it goes badly. But if it goes well, this could be something significant, something that no other U.S. president has ever done before, normalizing relations with North Korea, one of the most secretive and perhaps difficult countries to deal with on earth. Could President Trump be the one to convince them that it's worthwhile to abandon their nuclear program, something they have insisted over and over again they would never be willing to do?

History shows that negotiations 13 with the North Koreans have seemed promising 14 at first, only for things to fall apart. The United States has often accused North Korea of cheating, of reneging on deals that they agreed to. Will this time be different? We just don't know and we'll have to wait and see.