President Trump announced Friday he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12, a historic summit he hopes will be the first of many as the U.S. pushes the authoritarian regime to decommission its nuclear weapons program.
The president revealed his decision after emerging from a lengthy Oval Office meeting with Kim Yong-chol, one of the most powerful officials inside the Kim regime. The two men, along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, met for over an hour to discuss denuclearization and the preconditions for sanctions relief. The former North Korean intelligence chief also delivered a personal letter from Kim to the president, which Trump read prior to departing for Camp David Friday afternoon, according to an administration official.
“I think we’re going to have a relationship and it will start on June 12,” Trump told reporters afterwards, saying the meeting “was literally going to be the delivery of a letter [but] it ended up being a two-hour conversation with the second-most powerful man in North Korea.”
With cautious optimism, Trump described his upcoming sit-down with Kim as a “get-to-know-you meeting… that could be very positive.” But he added that the U.S. has “hundreds of new sanctions ready to go” if talks with Pyongyang fall through.
Chances of negotiations with Kim stalling once more remain high, as White House officials discovered last week when a North Korean official’s threat of nuclear war led Trump to call off his previously planned summit with Kim. It took several meetings this week between representatives from both countries in New York and Singapore to ensure the June 12 summit was added back to Trump’s schedule.
Prior to Friday’s announcement, administration officials said North Korea would have to demonstrate its commitment to denuclearization before a meeting with Trump could take place. Though the president declined to say whether Kim took additional steps this week outside of sending a North Korean delegation to meet with U.S. officials, he told reporters on Friday a “transformation” seems possible with the isolated regime.
“We are going to make sure when this is over, it’s over,” Trump said, referring to North Korea’s nuclear program. “They have the potential to be a great country and I think Japan is going to be helping a lot. I think South Korea is going to help a lot. I think China is going to help a lot.”
But Trump said the process of denuclearization is likely to happen slowly, and it may take several meetings with his North Korean counterpart to broker a deal.
“Frankly, I said ‘take your time. I’ve never said it happens in one meeting,” he told reporters, adding that he looks “forward to the day when I can take the sanctions off of North Korea.”
The president also appeared to soften his rhetoric following his meeting with Kim Yong-chol, telling reporters he doesn’t’ “want to use the term maximum pressure anymore” because it has infuriated the Kim regime and could jeopardize talks going forward.
Trump is slated to attend the G7 summit in Quebec next week before traveling to Singapore for his meeting with Kim. The White House has previously said he intends to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe either during his visit to Canada or early next week in Washington. He lauded his relationships with Abe and Chinese President Xi Jingping on Friday, claiming his ability to connect with both men has helped advance discussions with North Korea.
“I have a lot of great relations with Chairman Xi. I think China and Xi would love to see something happen here,” Trump said.
