Summit prep continues

Series of meetings set ahead of date with Kim

WASHINGTON — A week after canceling a June 12 summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump behaved Tuesday as if the event was on again.

“We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more,” Trump tweeted Tuesday.

On a flight to Tennessee aboard Air Force One on Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters that Trump’s letter last week canceling the summit had left the door open for a meeting.

“And again, we expect it to take place,” Sanders said. “But we’ll see what happens. We’re going to be prepared. If it takes place on June 12th, we’ll certainly be prepared. If it for some reason takes place at a later date, we’ll be prepared for that as well.”

Sanders added, “Denuclearization has to be on the table and the focus of the meeting. And the president has to feel like we’re making progress on that front.”

Earlier Tuesday, Sanders announced four meetings in anticipation of the first summit between an American president and a North

SUMMIT

Korean leader.

According to Sanders, Trump will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House on June 7 to discuss developments in North Korea; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet later this week with Kim Yong Chol, North Korea’s vice chairman of the Central Committee, in New York; a U.S. delegation is meeting with North Korean officials in the DMZ; and White House deputy chief of staff

Joe Hagin is meeting in Singapore to coordinate logistics with officials from Pyongyang.

This month, North Korean officials snubbed Hagin and a White House advance team that had traveled to Singapore. Nonetheless, Hagin