Trump casts doubt on summit with Kim

> But Pompeo says US still planning for talks

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday there was a “substantial chance” his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will not take place as planned on June 12 amid concerns that Kim is resistant to giving up his nuclear weapons.

Trump raised doubts about the Singapore summit in talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who came to Washington to urge Trump not to let a rare opportunity with reclusive North Korea slip away.

If the summit is called off or fails, it would be a major blow to what Trump supporters hope will be the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency, and a huge disappointment for the president himself.

“There’s a very substantial chance ... it won’t work out. And that’s OK,” Trump said.

“That doesn’t mean it won’t work out over a period of time. But it may not work out for June 12. But there is a good chance that we’ll have the meeting.”

Trump said whether the meeting will be held as scheduled will be determined “pretty soon”.

“North Korea has a chance to be a great country and I think they should seize the opportunity,” he said.

Secretary of state Mike Pompeo later said the government was still planning for a June 12 summit, but declined to predict if it would actually take place.

Trump’s Oval Office remarks are the strongest sign from him yet about the possibility of a delay or cancellation of what would be the first summit between US and North Korean leaders.

It was unclear whether Trump was truly backing away from the summit or whether he was strategically coaxing North Korea to the table.

The original purpose of Trump and Moon’s meeting was to fine-tune a joint strategy for dealing with Kim. Instead it has become more of a crisis session after Pyongyang last week threatened to pull out.

The White House was caught off guard when, in a dramatic change of tone, North Korea condemned the latest US-South Korean drills, suspended North-South talks and threw into doubt the summit with Trump if it was pushed toward “unilateral nuclear abandonment”. – Reuters

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