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Thursday, October 29, 2026Oct 29

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Cooper: Can summit be the start?

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shake hands ahead of their meeting at Capella Hotel in Singapore Tuesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shake hands ahead of their meeting at Capella Hotel in Singapore Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shake hands ahead of their meeting at Capella Hotel in Singapore Tuesday.

We’ve been here before, with crossed fingers, at the precipice of peace on the Korean peninsula.

We’re here for the first time with the presence of a sitting American president but with the same promises of denuclearization and a new way forward from a North Korean dictator.

We, a peace-loving people, were disappointed when peace didn’t occur in the 1990s and again in the 2000s. So we stand on the precipice again, with fingers crossed.

Though we Americans are an optimistic lot, we worry that Lucy will – for a third time – pull the football away when an enthusiastic Charlie Brown comes running up to kick it.

The principals are different this time, though. Maybe that will make a difference.