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Xi Jinping felt the G-20 spotlight shift away from him in Osaka last weekend and onto Kim Jong Un, Donald Trump and Moon Jae-in at Panmunjom. (Nikkei montage/Reuters)
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A secret meeting, an invitation and the DMZ: How Trump stole the G-20

Much-anticipated Xi summit was but an opening act for the North Korea crossing

KATSUJI NAKAZAWA, Nikkei senior staff writer | China

TOKYO -- Although U.S. President Donald Trump's now famous Twitter invitation to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Saturday looked almost spontaneous, it seems he had always envisioned a Panmunjom handshake as the climax of his Asia trip.

At the Osaka Group of 20 summit, as the world held its breath for the big meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, neither Xi nor South Korean President Moon Jae-in nor Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe were able to ascertain the U.S. president's true ambitions.

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