HIGH- STAKES SHOWDOWN
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrive in Singapore for one of the most anticipated summits in recent history
SINGAPORE — In their final hours of calm, President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un huddled with advisers in luxury Singapore hotels less than half amile apart, readying for a nuclear summit that could define the fate of millions and their own political futures.
Both sides spent Monday finalizing preparations for the unprecedented summit, which was to kick off at 9 a. m. Tuesday ( 8 p. m. Monday, Chicago time) with a handshake between Trump and Kim, an image sure to be devoured around the world. Trump and Kim planned to meet one on one, joined only by translators, for up to two hours before admitting their respective advisers, a U. S. official said. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about internal deliberations and insisted on anonymity.
The summit will be the first between a North Korean leader and a sitting American president. In Singapore, the island city- state playing host to the summit, the sense of anticipation was palpable, with people lining spotless streets Monday waving cellphones as Trump headed to meet with Singapore’s prime minister.
U. S. and North Korean officials negotiated at the Ritz Carlton Monday ahead of the sit- down aimed at resolving a standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.
Trump tweeted Monday morning: “Great to be in Singapore, excitement in the air!”
Trump and Kim arrived in Singapore on Sunday, both staying at luxurious and heavily guarded hotels, with Trump at the Shangri- La Hotel and Kim at the St. Regis Hotel.
Trump and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong were meeting over lunch on Monday. Kim and Lee met the day before. “The entire world is watching the historic summit between [ North Korea] and the United States of America,” Kim told Lee through an interpreter.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the former CIA director, spent the morning huddled with top aides preparing for the summit, aides said. He was joined in Singapore by Ambassador Sung Kim, the U. S. envoy to the Philippines; and Ambassador Michael McKinley, a career diplomat Pompeo recently tapped to be his senior adviser.
Pompeo traveled twice to Pyongyang in recent months to lay the groundwork for Trump’s meeting. Illustrating the divisions within Trump’s administration about the wisdom of pursuing diplomacy with the North, Pompeo has been a driving force behind the meeting as national security adviser John Bolton has become a more behind the scenes player.
Trump has said he hopes to make a legacy- defining deal for the North to give up its nuclear weapons, though he has recently sought to minimize expectations, saying more than one meeting may be necessary. The North has faced crippling diplomatic and economic sanctions as it has advanced development of its nuclear and ballisticmissile programs.
Experts believe the North is on the brink of being able to target the entire U. S. mainland with its nuclear- armed missiles, and while there’s deep skepticism that Kim will quickly give up those hard- won nukes, there’s also some hope that diplomacy can replace the animosity between the U. S. and the North.
As Trump was trying to build a bridge with Kim, he was smashing longtime alliances with Western allies, withdrawing from the G- 7 joint communique and launching blistering criticism against Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trump continued to tweet angrily at Trudeau from Singapore, saying Monday “Fair Trade is now to be called Fool Trade if it is not Reciprocal.” Again accusing the longtime U. S. ally of unfair trade practices, he added: “Then Justin acts hurt when called out!”
One top Trump adviser cast the move as a show of strength before the Kim meeting. Economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CBS News in Washington that “Kim must not see American weakness,” adding that by criticizing new tariffs, Trudeau was “pouring collateral damage on this whole Korean trip.”