President Trump on Thursday announced the cancellation of his upcoming meeting with North Korea leader Kim Jong-un. Two days later, he suggested the meeting was still scheduled for June 12th in Singapore.
As confirmed by the State Department, US officials will be holding direct talks with North Korean leaders at the DMZ this week. Another team of officials is on its way to Singapore to prepare for the summit.
“Our United States team has arrived in North Korea to make arrangements for the summit between Kim Jong-un and myself,” tweeted Trump. “I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial nation one day. Kim Jong-Un agrees with me on this. It will happen!”
Trump’s remarks came one day after Kim met with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who urged him to find a way to make the summit with Trump happen.
According to Moon, Kim is willing to commit to denuclearization but is not convinced the US will keep its promises to end hostile relations and ensure the security of his regime.
Moon, who met with Trump Tuesday in an effort to keep the summit on track, acknowledged that Washington and Pyongyang will have different expectations of what the term “denuclearization” means and has urged both parties to hold working-level talks to find a compromise.
“However, during the US-South Korea summit, President Trump clearly emphasized that we may see not only the end of hostile relations but also economic cooperation if North Korea denuclearizes,” added Moon.
South Korean officials said they were considering the start of peace treaty talks as a way of mitigating the North’s security concerns ahead of the summit. If the summit is a success, said Moon, he is willing to hold a trilateral summit with Trump and Kim to put an official end to the Korean War.
Editor’s note: We suspected that this might happen, Trump’s negotiating strategies have proven successful.