Trump: June 12 North Korea Nuclear Summit Is Back On
U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed on Friday, June 1 that the historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore is back on the schedule and still on track for June 12. Trump has earlier sent a letter to North Korea signaling his intention to pull out after recent hostile rhetoric from both sides.
It would seem that his meeting with North Korean top deputy Kim Yong Chol went well enough. Trump and the emissary had a lengthy meeting in the Oval Office, after which he announced that the Singapore summit is back on.
Trump has earlier sent a message to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on May 24, citing "tremendous anger" and "open hostility" from North Korea as the reasons for canceling the meeting. The letter also included a thinly veiled threat about nuclear capabilities.
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At the end of the letter, Trump hinted that he is still open to talks, despite recent hostile statements from North Korea. "Ultimately it is only that dialogue that matters. Someday, I look very much forward to meeting you," he noted in his message, adding his gratitude at the end for the release of the hostages and returning them to their families.
"We'll see where it leads, but we're going to meet June 12," Trump confirmed, according to the Los Angeles Times. This new decision came about despite White House officials saying that it will be "almost impossible" to get back on track for the planned June date.
"I think it'll be a process," Trump added. "I never said it goes in one meeting. I said it'd be a process, But the relationships are building, and that's a very positive thing," he emphasized, reversing from his former high expectations for the historic meeting.
Trump also implied that it's likely that North Korea's neighbors, mainly China, Japan and South Korea, that will have to contribute for the most part towards any rebuilding efforts to be done in the hermit kingdom. "We're 6,000 miles away," Trump said.
"That's their neighborhood; it's not our neighborhood," he added, pointing out that it will be up to the other Asian countries to cover the cost of economic aid and not the U.S.
"We're going to start a process," the U.S. president repeated. "And I told them today, 'Take your time. We can go fast. We can go slowly.' But I think they'd like to see something happen. And if we can work that out, that will be good," he noted, as quoted by the Japan Times.
The U.S. president and officials met for 90 minutes with Kim Yong Chol, former spy chief and now "the second most powerful man in North Korea," according to Trump. He was joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chief of Staff John Kelly during the meeting.
There was also what appeared to be a very large letter from Kim Jong Un to Trump, an oversized missive that the president called "very interesting."
