Trump-Kim meet on June 12
US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced that he will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 12 in Singapore, the first-ever summit between the top leaders of the two Cold War rivals to discuss the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
Trump’s announcement came hours after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo returned home from North Korea with three detained Americans.
Trump, who personally greeted the trio at the Andrews Air Force Base, praised Kim for their release ahead of their summit.
“The highly anticipated meeting between Kim Jong Un and myself will take place in Singapore on June 12th. We will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!,” Trump tweeted.
In April, Trump had stunned the world by accepting an invitation to meet Kim in an unprecedented sit-down.
Trump and Kim had previously traded insults and threats. The breakthrough came after the recent landmark talks between North and South Korea. At a summit last month, Kim and South Korean President Moon Jaein vowed to work to rid the peninsula of nuclear weapons, although the means of achieving this were not detailed.
The main issue under discussion at the Trump-Kim summit will be North Korea’s nuclear weapons, which the US is demanding Pyongyang give up.
There has been no word from North Korea on its agenda or what it might offer, although a key issue is certain to be the presence of 30,000 US military personnel in South Korea, along with the removal of sanctions.
Trump has struck a cautiously optimistic tone in discussing the prospects of reaching a deal during his upcoming summit with Kim, saying he is hopeful a historic agreement can be brokered while also warning the talks could prove unfruitful.