Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Hope for the best
The ‘Little Rocket Man’ and the ‘mentally deranged dotard’, alone in a room with only their translators..
DONALD Trump’s first meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un today will be one-on-one, with translators the only other people allowed in the room.
Diplomats and foreign policy experts are alarmed at the thought of the encounter between the two men.
They have traded childish insults in the past, with Trump nicknaming Kim “Little Rocket Man” and the North Korean branding the US President a “mentally deranged dotard” in return.
A White House official said the meeting at the summit in Singapore would take place prior to talks where America and North Korean officials would also be in attendance.
It is feared the first meeting risks raising tensions if the two men give differing accounts of their exchanges.
Others have expressed concerns that the US President will make an offer other nations, including South Korea and Japan, would not accept. Those fears increased when Trump boasted about how long it would take him to tell if Kim was serious about giving up nuclear weapons.
He said: “I think within the first minute, I’ll know. Just my touch, my feel, that’s what I do. I think very quickly I’ll know whether or not something good is going to happen.”
North Korean state media confirmed Kim will discuss denuclearisation and a “permanent and durable peace-keeping mechanism” on the Korean peninsula.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said actions would be taken to provide North Korea with “sufficient certainty that they can be comfortable that denuclearisation isn’t something that ends badly for them”.
He added: “Just the opposite. That it leads to a brighter and better future for the North Korean people.”
Last night, Kim left the St Regis hotel for a tour of Singapore, posing for a selfie with the country’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan at the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay.
Earlier, Mr Trump was given a cake ahead of his 72nd birthday on Thursday during a lunch with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
US basketball hero Dennis Rodman, 57, who has met Kim previously, arrived in Singapore for the summit saying he was “excited to be part of it”.