Everything about the inter-Korean summit had been minutely choreographed and rehearsed but the North’s Kim Jong Un went off-script when he invited his southern counterpart Moon Jae-in to join him over the border.

After a prolonged clasp lasting almost half a minute over the Military Demarcation Line that acts as the border, a beaming Moon invited his guest over to South Korea.

They posed for pictures as Kim became the first Northern leader to set foot in the country since Korean War hostilities ceased in 1953.

Kim then beckoned Moon over to the other side. Moon seemed initially hesitant but the North’s jovial young leader was not taking “no” for an answer, grabbing his hand and accompanying him across the border before they warmly shook hands again.

Grinning broadly, the pair then crossed back to the South hand-in-hand, in a remarkable image of unity.

More off-the-cuff moments followed as the leaders coralled the two delegations into an apparently unscheduled “team photo”.

It all went to show that even for a moment as carefully planned as the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade, where the North’s nuclear arsenal will be high on the agenda, the best-laid preparations rarely run totally to schedule.

South Korean officials had carried out a full dress rehearsal on the eve of the summit, including stand-ins for the two leaders.

“We examined every single detail including lighting and flower decorations,” a Moon spokesman said.

– Cold buckwheat noodles –

The welcoming ceremony dripped with symbolism as the two men walked down a red carpet through an honour guard of South Korean soldiers colourfully dressed in traditional uniform lifting up banners as they went through.

They were also greeted by a military band, Moon saluting and Kim standing rather awkwardly not quite to attention, the first North Korean leader to inspect an honour guard from the South.

The pair seemed to share several relaxed moments, with Kim at one point breaking into a laugh as Moon pointed something out with a gesture during the ceremony, and the visitor from Pyongyang joking about noodles during his summit opening remarks as his sister and close adviser Kim Yo Jong took notes.

There were also moments of unexpected comedy as Yo Jong and another delegation member following the two leaders realised they were in shot and wildly swerved off to the side.

And the live TV pictures of the two leaders inspecting a picture of Mount Kumgang in North Korea were obstructed by a photographer standing in the way.

There was some awkwardness too as Kim took an age to sign the guest book, with Moon standing by seemingly not knowing where to look.

But also brief moments of tenderness, with Moon several times gently guiding his guest with a light hand on the back.

Their lingering handshake contrasted sharply with the greeting in 2000 between the current leader’s father Kim Jong-il and Kim Dae-jung, a vigorous two-handed pumping affair lasting around five seconds.

The 2007 version was slightly more muted — three seconds and only one hand — as Kim Jong Il welcomed Roh Moo-hyun in Pyongyang.

The North has since made rapid progress in its weapons programmes, last year detonating its sixth and by far most powerful nuclear blast and launching missiles bringing the US mainland into range.

At times of tension, Pyongyang has threatened to unleash the “treasured sword” of its atomic arsenal and turn Seoul and the US into a “sea of flames”.

But the image that lingered on Friday was that of the two leaders hand-in-hand, walking across the border to the South toward a summit many hope could lead to a more peaceful future.

Walking across the cement blocks that mark the border was “so easy,” Kim said, making him wonder “why it took so long to do so after 11 years,” referring to the last summit in Pyongyang in 2007.

Kim is the first North Korean leader to set foot on the South’s territory since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a ceasefire.

At the Peace House venue in the heavily fortified truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, Kim said: “I walked about 200 metres, flooded with emotion.”

A new period in inter-Korean history was beginning, he told Moon.

“I came here determined to send a starting signal at the threshold of a new history,” he said, promising a “frank, serious and honest mindset”.

At the two previous summits in 2000 and 2007, Kim’s father and predecessor Kim Jong Il met the then South Korean leaders with much fanfare, but ties soured after conservative administrations took power in Seoul in 2008 and Pyongyang accelerated its banned nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

Kim suggested that he had been aware of scepticism over the latest summit and vowed to produce a lasting deal.

“No matter how good agreement or statement we produce here, if it is not implemented properly… it will only lead to disappointment,” Kim said.

“Unlike in the past when we failed to follow up and went back to where we had once started, I’d like to meet the expectations of the people,” he added, promising a “frank, serious and honest mindset”.

Moon voiced “admiration” for Kim’s “bold decision” to walk to the South, and hoped they would reach “a bold agreement so that we may give a big gift to the whole Korean people and the people who want peace”.

“I think both of us feel a heavy weight on our shoulders,” Moon told Kim.

“When you crossed the military border for the first time, Panmunjom became a symbol of peace, not a symbol of division.”

Friday’s closely watched meeting is heavy with political symbolism — including a dinner menu featuring the North’s signature dish.

Pyongyang brought a top chef to Panmunjom to cook the cold noodles, and Kim said he hoped that Moon will “enjoy our Pyongyang naengmyeon brought from afar.”

“Oh, I shouldn’t say ‘afar’,” he added, prompting laughter from officials and Moon.

Men in sharp suits and matching blue and white striped ties fanned out ahead of and around Kim as he approached the Military Demarcation Line for a historic handshake with his Southern counterpart Moon Jae-in.

Some of the men had bulging pockets.

North Korea is one of the world’s most tightly-controlled societies, but even so security for its leader is iron-clad.

Foreigners attending any event where Kim will be present must go through hours of security procedures beforehand, and surrender all electronics, including phones.

The Guard Command, the military unit tasked with ensuring the safety of the leadership, is an elite institution close to the centre of North Korean power — it provides the centrepiece display of the annual kimjongilia and kimilsungia flower festivals in Pyongyang to honour Kim’s father and grandfather.

Ri Yong Guk, a defector from the North who served on a security detail for Kim Jong Il, wrote in a 2013 memoir that as many as six different layers of security guards protected the leader on trips to the countryside to inspect military units, plants or farms.

“It is one of the world’s tightest security blankets through which even a single ant would find it hard to go,” he wrote.

The arrangements for the current leader are reportedly even tighter, and during a military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the foundation of its regular armed forces in February, Pyongyang paraded three kinds of security units dedicated to protecting Kim’s life.

Kim was repeatedly seen accompanied by a stout military general in uniform with a holstered gun.

The protection afforded to the Kim family was also on display when the leader’s sister Kim Yo Jong visited the South for the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, accompanied by tall bodyguards with crew cuts, sunglasses and earphones.

‘Scariest place on Earth’

Former US president Bill Clinton once described the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula and where Friday’s summit was being held as “the scariest place on Earth”.

Despite its name, the DMZ is among the most heavily fortified areas on the planet.

Around 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the South Korean capital Seoul, the four-kilometre-wide space stretches for 250 kilometres across Korea and bristles with electric fences, minefields and anti-tank barriers.

At the joint security area at Panmunjom the two sides, technically still at war, come face-to-face, with stern South Korean guards — also chosen for their height and looks — standing stock still only metres from the North Korean positions.

Soldiers are permitted to carry only sidearms in the area, but it is an open secret that both sides have larger weapons stashed nearby for use in case of emergencies.

In November a North Korean soldier defected under a hail of automatic rifle fire from his comrades.

Back in 1984, a 22-year-old Soviet tourist bolted from North to South at Panmunjom, triggering a gun battle in which three pursuing North Korean soldiers were killed, along with a Southern trooper, although defector Vasily Matuzok was unharmed.

The handshake between the two leaders marked the latest milestone in a rapid rapprochement after months of global fears about a nuclear conflict.

Here are some other handshakes that shook the world:

Arafat-Rabin, 1993

After months of secret negotiations in Norway, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat stood in the South Lawn of the White House on September 13, 1993 to witness the signing of the Oslo Accords.

And then, in one of the most dramatic moments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Clinton’s arms stretched around both leaders, Arafat and Rabin shook hands.

The abortive process granted autonomy to the occupied Palestinian territories without creating a separate state, and ended the six-year-long popular Palestinian uprising — the Intifada — in which over 1,200 Palestinians and around 150 Israelis were killed.

Rabin was assassinated a year later by a Jewish extremist opposed to the peace process, which faltered in the years that followed. A second Intifada broke out in 2000.

Obama-Castro, 2013

At a memorial service for Nelson Mandela in 2013, US President Barack Obama made headlines when he shook hands with Cuba’s Raul Castro, the first such public greeting between leaders of the bitter neighbours after decades of enmity.

Within months, there was a rapid thaw. Full diplomatic relations were restored in July 2015, followed by once-unthinkable steps to mend ties after more than half a century of enmity.

Obama visited Cuba in 2016 — the first such trip by an American president in 88 years.Washington also relaxed its decades-long embargo on the communist-ruled island, and US airlines resumed direct flights to Havana in November 2016.

Queen Elizabeth-McGuinness, 2012

In a landmark moment in the Northern Ireland peace process, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II met Martin McGuinness, a former top commander in the paramilitary Irish Republican Army during the many years of bloody hostilities with British forces.

The IRA wanted an end to British rule in the province, and for it to be merged with the Republic of Ireland. McGuinness later became one of the figures that helped negotiate an end to the violence.

McGuinness — then a deputy first minister of Northern Ireland — shook hands with the Queen during her 2012 visit to the province.

It was a gesture towards reconciliation that would once have been unimaginable, with McGuinness’ militant past and British security operations still a source of anger for many.

Xi-Ma, 2015

After decades of estrangement following a traumatic split at the end of a civil war in 1949, the presidents of China and Taiwan met for the first time ever in Singapore.

In unprecedented scenes, China’s Xi Jinping and Taiwan’s Ma Ying-jeou shook hands for more than a minute and smiled for a mass of reporters before holding talks. The summit led to the setting up of a hotline between Beijing and Taipei and a lowering of tensions between the self-ruled island and the mainland.

While the meeting was undeniably historic, there were no major concessions from either side. Ma ended up paying a heavy political price at home: Taiwanese voters chose to back Beijing-sceptic Tsai Ing-wen in the 2016 election amid fears about the island’s sovereignty.

Donald Trump

The next major handshake on the global calendar is expected to feature Kim Jong Un again — this time with US President Donald Trump.

While it will certainly mark a historic moment, handshakes involving Trump sometimes make headlines for the wrong reasons, and the businessman-president has become well-known for his awkward grapples.

Clips of his handshakes often go viral on social media, with commenters poking fun at the way he tries to pull another world leader’s arm or the often-uncomfortable amount of time he spends shaking hands. Most famously, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last year appeared to roll his eyes in an apparent expression of relief after a long handshake with Trump in Washington.

Quite how Kim might react to an impromptu arm-wrestle, only time will tell.

Pompeo overcame stiff opposition in the Senate from Democrats who warned he would add fuel to Trump’s aggressive foreign policy.

But ultimately, the 54-year-old West Point graduate and former congressman beat back critics, easily winning Senate confirmation in a 57-42 vote.

Just over one hour later, he was sworn in as secretary of state by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito at the White House.

The State Department immediately announced Pompeo would lead the US delegation to NATO foreign minister talks in Brussels on Friday, and follow that with stops in Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, stops chosen to reflect their “importance as key allies and partners in the region,” the department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

Trump: ‘He has my trust’

“Having a patriot of Mike’s immense talent, energy and intellect leading the Department of State will be an incredible asset for our country at this critical time in history,” Trump said in a statement.

“He will always put the interests of America first. He has my trust. He has my support.”

After the swearing-in ceremony, Pompeo said he was “completely humbled by the responsibility” of his new post.

“I’m looking forward to serving the American people and getting to work right away,” he added.

Pompeo replaces Rex Tillerson, the former oil executive Trump fired in March after a year of tensions with the White House over policy and turmoil in the State Department, where his cutbacks and aloofness alienated staff and left the body deeply demoralized.

But where Tillerson was seen as a voice of moderation in the Trump administration, Pompeo is viewed as a hawk who could combine with new White House National Security Advisor John Bolton to back Trump’s aggressive posturing on the world stage.

Promises diplomacy, ‘swagger’

In a bruising fight against his appointment, Democrats accused Pompeo as too bellicose and harboring anti-Muslim and homophobic sentiments.

During his confirmation hearing at the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Pompeo rejected those accusations.

He insisted his focus will be on diplomatic solutions to problems, while pledging to bring “swagger once again” to the State Department.

“One of the many values of robust diplomacy is that it increases our chances of solving problems peacefully, without ever firing a shot,” Pompeo said.

Secret North Korea trip

Thursday’s move to the state department marks the high point so far in the career of the ambitious Pompeo, who some say has his eyes on the White House.

He graduated first in his class at the elite US Military Academy at West Point, and later earned a law degree from Harvard.

Pompeo served four terms as a Republican congressman from Kansas before Trump tapped him to head the Central Intelligence Agency last year.

There, he promised a more “vicious” intelligence operation, making unapologetically menacing statements toward North Korea and Iran.

He also earned Trump’s ear in regular intelligence briefings at the White House, accommodating Trump’s desire for simplified, visual presentations rather than detailed written assessments of the world’s security dangers.

Behind the scenes, he made numerous trips abroad to meet foreign political and security leaders, especially in the Middle East.

He also took the lead in creating a dialogue with North Korea as Pyongyang demonstrated its theoretical ability to strike the United States with a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile.

In late March, Pompeo secretly traveled to Pyongyang, where he met with Kim to discuss what could become a historic summit between the two countries possibly as early as in May.

The White House released pictures from their meeting Thursday, attesting to Pompeo’s central role in relations with North Korea.

That served to underscore that he could easily slip into the diplomatic driver’s seat as soon as he was sworn in.

US Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison said she was “pleased that he will be leading the delegation” to the NATO meeting. “His efforts to come to Brussels tonight shows America’s commitment to NATO and our Allies and Partners,” she said.