President, Moon discuss Kim summit

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump spoke late Saturday to South Korean President Moon Jaein amid increasing concerns in the White House that North Korea is not serious about striking a deal on denuclearization, which has complicated planning for the upcoming Singapore summit.

On the call, which lasted less than 30 minutes, Mr. Trump sought Mr. Moon’s interpretation of Pyongyang’s shift to a harder-line position last week, a sharp contrast to the more positive and constructive tone after Mr. Moon met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un last month, according to a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the conversation.

North Korea’s actions in recent days, including its cancellation of a workinglevel meeting with South Korean officials and a threat to call off Mr. Kim’s summit with Mr. Trump on June 12, has alarmed the Trump administration and created new complications in the preparations, with just over three weeks left. An advance team from the United States is in Singapore to work out logistics, Trump administration officials said.

National security adviser John Bolton has been telling colleagues that he doesn’t trust that the summit will go well, and he has reiterated his long-standing belief that he does not trust the North Koreans, a different person familiar with his views said.

Aides emphasized that Mr. Trump remains committed to meeting with Mr. Kim and that planning is moving forward but that time is running out to nail down an agenda and finalize several outstanding issues. The senior U.S. official said Pyongyang appears to be trying to extract more concessions from the United States before the summit, or to be building a narrative to blame Mr. Trump if things go poorly in Singapore or to pull out of the summit entirely.