Trump dangles White House invite for N.Korean leader Kim

President ‘very well-prepared’ for historic summit

US President Donald Trump insisted Thursday he is “very well-prepared” for a historic and potentially fraught summit with Kim Jong-un in Singapore, while hinting at the signing of a peace treaty and even a future White House visit by the North Korean leader.

Hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Washington, Trump tried to quell concerns about his lack of diplomatic experience heading into the high-stakes talks.

“I’m very well-prepared. I don’t think I have to prepare very much,” Trump said with characteristic bravado. “It’s about attitude, it’s about willingness to get things done.”

Trump will meet Kim in Singapore on June 12, a first-ever meet- ing between sitting North Korean and US leaders and one focused on Pyongyang’s ominous nuclear weapons program.

Abe jetted into Washington hoping to ensure a decades-old united front on North Korea is not swept away by the history of the moment.

Since the first inkling that a Trump-Kim summit could be on the cards, Japan has repeatedly insisted that Washington be mindful not to let its guard down with the nucleararmed regime in Pyongyang.

The Japanese prime minister will have been encouraged by Trump’s insistence – during a joint Rose Garden press conference – that the summit will be only the start of a process and his vow to raise the issue of Japanese abductees in the North.

But in their joint appearance, the mercurial US president also displayed his instinct to make the sensitive, technical diplomatic effort into a dramatic world-stopping event.

Trump mused he was willing to consider normalizing ties with North Korea, that a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War could be signed in Singapore and that a leader accused of gross human rights violations could visit the White House.

“We could absolutely sign an agreement and we’re looking at it,” said Trump. “But that’s the beginning. Sounds a little bit strange, but that’s probably the easy part.”

An armistice was signed to end the war, but there was never a full peace treaty, fueling North Korean regime’s fears about its own security.