Abe weighs in before possible summit

TOKYO — With efforts being made to reinstate the planned summit meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan is not taking any chances.

After speaking with Trump by telephone Monday, Abe told reporters in Tokyo that he and the U.S. president had “agreed to meet before the U.S.-North Korea summit.”

Abe has been concerned Trump might make a nuclear disarmament deal with North Korea that protects the United States but does not address Tokyo’s worries about the North’s shortrange missiles that could hit Japan.

By offering to meet with the U.S. president before he potentially heads to Singapore, Abe hopes to be one of the last advisers to have his ear before he meets with North Korea’s leader.

Abe told reporters Trump briefed him on plans for the summit, although Abe did not provide details.

According to NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, Abe — who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the weekend — conveyed both Japan and Russia’s support for the summit to go forward.

By Sunday, diplomatic and technical experts from the United States and North Korea had met in the North Korean part of the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas in an effort to salvage the summit. It was unclear what had happened so far in the talks at the border.

Delegations from the United States and North Korea arrived in Singapore on Monday evening, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap. Negotiations over logistics and other issues related to the possible summit meeting are expected to begin Tuesday. The North Korean delegation is led by Kim Chang Son, a top logistics and protocol official, Yonhap said.