Trump and North Korea: Social media request led to history, but Twitter users say what about Otto Warmbier?

A social media request for a quick handshake turned historic Sunday when President Donald Trump became the first U.S. president to set foot in North Korea during a meeting in the Demilitarized Zone with Kim Jong Un.

"It's just an honor to be with you and it was an honor that you asked me to step over that line," Trump told the North Korean leader. "And I was proud to step over that line."

Trump added that it was "a great day for the world."

Trump had said the duo would merely conduct a brief handshake, but they met for almost an hour. Afterward, Trump said each leader will provide a team of negotiators for talks aimed at persuading Kim to dismantle a nuclear weapons program that has kept the Korean Peninsula on edge for years.

If Twitter helped kick-start history, social media wasn't all rainbows and flowers for Trump on Sunday. "Otto Warmbier" was trending, with tens of thousands of tweets criticizing the president for making nice with the man whose government imprisoned the college student before sending him back to the U.S. in a vegetative state. He died days later.

Trump reaches out to Kim on Twitter

Trump suggested the meeting in a tweet Thursday: "After some very important meetings, including my meeting with President Xi of China, I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon). While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!"

Kim agrees to meeting

Trump, still in Japan, said the Koreans responded "very favorably" to his suggestion. Sunday, Kim gave Trump props for reaching out. “I believe this is an expression of his willingness to eliminate all the unfortunate past and open a new future," he said.

A photo opportunity, and maybe more

Cameras clicked and whirred as Trump, during a planned visit to South Korea, made his side trip to the DMZ for the handshake seen around the world. Kim asked Trump if he wanted to step into North Korea, and the duo took about 10 steps in the North. They then walked back before retreating to Freedom House for their private chat. They emerged with an agreement to kick-start talks that had seen little movement since their summit in February in Vietnam.

Otto Warmbier trends on social media

Warmbier was arrested at Pyongyang airport in January 2016, charged with subversion after apparently attempting to steal a propaganda poster. He was released in June 2017, and North Korean authorities blamed his drastically diminished condition upon release on botulism and sleeping pills. His family claimed torture. Trump has said Kim told him he knew nothing about it "and I will take him at his word." The posts on Twitter were mostly not so forgiving. "Maybe next time Kim can show him where Otto Warmbier was tortured and beaten to death," tweeted @DalyEm. @ChasenLynne tweeted, "I’m sure Otto Warmbier’s parents appreciate your respect."

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What happens now?

Foreign policy analysts said the border meeting won't mean much unless it leads to progress on a deal to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons programs. "What matters is what is agreed to and actually happens," tweeted Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. "It is not the personal but policy that counts."

Harry Kazianis, with the D.C.-based Center for the National Interest, said the meeting could "set the tone for ... carving out a path toward lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula."

Pope Francis prays for deal

Pope Francis praised the meeting in his weekly address at St. Peter's Square, saying he prays that "such a significant gesture will be a further step on the road to peace, not only on that peninsula but for the good of the entire world."

We've been here before

The Hanoi summit fell apart after Trump rejected Kim’s calls for sanctions relief in return for dismantling his main nuclear complex, which U.S. officials see as a partial denuclearization step. Kim has since fired missiles and other weapons into the sea. The duo met a year ago in Singapore, but no deal emerged.

Nukes on the Korean Peninsula

North Korea withdrew from the global Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 2003. Three years later, the rogue state conducted the first of a half-dozen increasingly complex nuclear tests. In July 2017, North Korea conducted what may have been a successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

The price of militarization

Pyongyang's military upgrades have come at a price – increasingly stiff economic sanctions that have crippled its economy. Trump has expressed a willingness to remove sanctions and provide economic aid if Kim is willing to end his nuclear program.

Contributing: David Jackson, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump and North Korea: Social media request led to history, but Twitter users say what about Otto Warmbier?