Delegations from the U.S. and North Korea are reportedly heading to Singapore to lay the groundwork for a meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un on Monday, suggesting the previously canceled meeting may be back on track to occur next month, according to Japanese and South Korean media reports.
Trump’s deputy chief of staff for operations, Joe Hagin, is leading the group of State Department officials and White House aides, Japanese media reported Monday.
Hagin was among a group of Trump administration officials who were stood up by their North Korean counterparts in Singapore this month. He and others had been dispatched to oversee the appropriate planning for a June 12 summit between Trump and Kim.
But the president pulled out of that meeting last Thursday due to concerns about the Kim regime’s change in behavior and hostile rhetoric, including a high-ranking official’s threat of nuclear war in a statement last Wednesday.
Senior White House officials have since said they need Pyongyang to commit to denuclearization and follow through on certain promises before Trump agrees to hold in-person talks with the authoritarian regime’s leader.
North Korean officials are expected to depart for Singapore Monday afternoon, according South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. The delegation sent by Kim is being led by his chief of staff Kim Chang-song.
Trump said over the weekend that if he agrees to meet with Kim, the summit would “likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12, and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date.”
