The world holds its breath
US President Donald Trump plans to depart early from his unprecedented summit with Kim Jong-un, after declaring that nuclear talks with North Korea have moved “more quickly than expected”.
Mr Trump had been scheduled to fly back to Washington tomorrow after spending today with the North Korean leader in Singapore.
But on the eve of the summit, the US leader altered his timetable, opting to return almost 15 hours earlier than scheduled.
The White House said: “The discussions between the US and North Korea are ongoing and have moved more quickly than expected.”
It is not immediately clear what specific progress, if any, had been made in preliminary discussions between US and North Korean officials in the run-up to summit.
In fact, only hours before the White House announcement, US secretary of state Mike Pompeo had seemed to lower expectations for the meeting, which Mr Trump had earlier predicted could potentially yield an on-the-spot deal to end the Korean War.
“We are hopeful this summit will have set the conditions for future successful talks,” Mr Pompeo said.
Mr Pompeo added that the US was prepared to provide North Korea with “sufficient certainty” that denuclearisation “is not something that ends badly for them”.
He would not say whether that included the possibility of withdrawing US troops from the Korean Peninsula.
The summit, the first between a sitting American president and
North Korea’s leader, would have seen the two leaders greeting each other, before a one-on-one meeting which a US official said could last up to two hours, with only translators joining them.
The White House said the day-long summit would also include a working lunch and a larger meeting involving aides to both leaders.
On the US side, Mr Trump was to be joined by Mr Pompeo, his chief of staff John Kelly, national security adviser John Bolton and US ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, along with a few others.
Before flying home, Mr Trump planned to speak to reporters in Singapore after concluding the summit, the White House said.
The last-minute change of schedule came as both sides finalised preparations for the meeting.
Mr Trump has forecast a “nice” outcome to the talks, while Mr Kim spent the day out of view.
Events will begin at 9am local time today with a handshake between the two leaders before a one-on-one meeting, with only translators present for up to two hours.
In Singapore, the island city-state hosting the summit, the sense of anticipation was palpable, with people lining streets waving mobile phones as Mr Trump headed to meet Singapore’s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong.
As Mr Trump and Mr Lee sat down for a working lunch at the Istana house, the US leader sounded optimistic, telling Mr Lee: “We’ve got a very interesting meeting and I think things can work out very nicely.”