While Trump is always going to be a controversial and divisive figure we have to grant the possibility a more moderate and conventional president would not have been able to pull this off.

Bill Clinton, for example, now looks very foolish for having claimed to have resolved the North Korean nuclear weapons issue with his "agreed framework", a presidential "executive agreement" and not a formal and binding treaty, in 1994.

That deal, which allowed North Korea to retain its nuclear facilities, including the Yongbyon reactor which was being used to manufacture plutonium, was dead in the water by the turn of the century.

The North Koreans, then under the leadership of Kim Jong-il, continued to work on their weapons programs, a fact well known to the Clinton administration by 1998, while accepting millions of tonnes of fuel oil from the U.S. over an eight year period.

America also spent billions of dollars on the construction of two light-water nuclear reactors, not suitable for bomb making, in North Korea as part of the deal.

It wasn't until after the election of George W. Bush in 2001 that reality was acknowledged; the oil was turned off and the pin pulled on the reactor finance.

The irony is that this time around it will be Kim Jong-un who is laying awake at night worrying about whether or not the US President will keep the faith.

Trump, who has given up very little despite being criticised over his unilateral decision to stop the annual war games with South Korea for now, appears to hold the whip hand.

No sanctions will lifted until there is verifiable proof "denuclearisation" is underway.

There has been no talk of withdrawing U.S. troops from South Korea or Japan and there is no suggestion the current levels of readiness along the 38th parralell will be wound back.

In the meantime, as the President was quick to point out, a great deal of money will be saved.

And, in a pre-emptive shot at South Korea, he also made the point the largest share of the costs of the provocative exercises was being born by America, not the country being defended.

Trump has also been unfairly criticised over the lack of detail in Tuesday's agreement.

That is pretty much standard practice at Summit Talks where leaders reach broad brush agreements.

The professional diplomats and negotiators are paid to sort out the finer details, which must then be signed off on by their chiefs, over a much longer time frame.

At the very least, Monday's agreement will keep things stable on the peninsula for months and possibly years to come while these negotiations continue.

And, on the upside, it is even possible given the U.S. has now agreed to guarantee North Korean sovereignty, that a full and lasting peace treaty between the North and the South may finally be negotiated 65 years after the end of the hot war that claimed between 3.5 million and 4 million lives.