As the glitz and glamour of US President Donald Trump’s Singapore summit starts to fade, his top diplomat has moved in to contain the fallout from some of his classically off-the-cuff remarks. And back home, people have started to ask what concessions the master deal-maker actually secured from isolated North Korea?
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo beamed as he arrived in Seoul, but he was there to meet South Korean and Japanese officials left baffled by Mr Trump’s promise to end “provocative” military drills – for once the US president’s words, not North Korea’s.
The US wants to achieve North Korean nuclear disarmament within two-and-a-half years, Mr Pompeo said, adding that discussions would continue within weeks.
But there was no getting away from the reason for his visit – to reassure allies in Seoul and Tokyo that Mr Trump's decision to end drills may not have been as definitive as his statement appeared. The next round of manoeuvres is scheduled for later this summer, but it is unclear if they will still go ahead.
Kim Eui-kyeom, South Korea’s presidential spokesman, said Seoul is still trying to figure out the exact meaning and intent of Trump's comments.
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US president Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un look at each other before signing documents that acknowledge the progress of the talks and pledge to keep momentum going, after their summit. Jonathan Ernst / Reuters -
US President Donald Trump holds up a document signed by him and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un. Saul Loeb / AFP -
US President Donald Trump holds up a document signed by him and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un. Saul Loeb / AFP -
US President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un shake hands during the summit. Jonathan Ernst / Reuters -
US President Donald Trump, right, reaches to shakes hands with North Korea leader Kim Jong-un. Evan Vucci / AP Photo -
North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump during their first meeting. Evan Vucci / AP Photo -
US President Donald Trump meets North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Kevin Lim / Reuters -
US President Donald Trump waves as he and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un look on from a veranda. Saul Loeb / AFP -
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un walks with US President Donald Trump at the start of their historic US-North Korea summit. Saul Loeb / AFP -
North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un walks with US President Donald Trump during a break in talks. Anthony Wallace / AFP -
The motorcade of US President Donald Trump travels towards Sentosa for his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Feline Lim / Reuters -
Seen from the Bay Hotel in Singapore, a car, front, carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, enters Sentosa island where the summit between him and US President Donald Trump will take place. Wong Maye-E / AP Photo -
Members of the media look at screens showing US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meeting at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island at the International Press Center for the US-North Korea Singapore Summit in Singapore. How Hwee Young / EPA -
South Koreans watch a screen reporting on US President Trump meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images -
People in Times Square walk past the ABC TV studios as news of the US-North Korea summit ticks past in New York. Don Emmert / AFP -
North Korean defectors Park Sang Hak and Justin Kim watch replays of US President Donald Trump's summit meeting in Singapore with North Korea leader Kim Jung Un on television, at a motel in Leesburg, Virginia. Also watching are South Korean human rights activists Do Hee Yun and Henry Song. Mike Theiler / Reuters -
A staff member of a Japanese newspaper Yomiuri distributes an extra edition of the newspaper reporting about the summit at Shimbashi Station in Tokyo. Koji Sasahara / AP Photo -
People look at an extra edition of the newspaper Yomiuri reporting about the summit, in Tokyo. Koji Sasahara / AP Photo -
Pedestrians walk past a large screen displaying US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Tokyo. Franck Robichon / EPA -
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon watch a television screen showing the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential Blue House in Seoul. Yonhap / AFP -
A man watches television screens showing the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at an electronics shopping centre in Seoul. Yonhap / AFP -
A conductor changes the newspaper to the latest edition showing images of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, at a news stand on a subway platform of the Pyongyang metro, in North Korea. Ed Jones / AFP -
A demonstrator holds placards during an anti-US rally in front of the US Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. Jean Chung / Bloomberg
Back in the US, questions were being asked about quite what North Korea’s Kim Jong Un had offered, besides vague promises and loosely defined goals. Pundits then contrasted the agreement with Iran’s nuclear deal that Mr Trump recently tore up.
Not to have anyone dampen his diplomatic coup, Mr Trump took to Twitter to hit back at the naysayers.
"The Fake News, especially NBC and CNN [are] fighting hard to downplay the deal," the president tweeted. “[The country’s] biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools!"
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Trump says historic summit ended North Korea nuclear threat
North Korea meets America's Fire and Fury with Art of the Deal
