US delegation in N Korea to arrange Singapore summit: Trump

Washington: A US delegation is in North Korea to make arrangements for the Singapore summit on June 12, President Donald Trump said today, adding hope for his meeting with the reclusive nation’s leader Kim Jong Un.

“Our United States team has arrived in North Korea to make arrangements for the Summit between Kim Jong Un and myself,” Trump said in a tweet.

“I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial Nation one day. Kim Jong Un agrees with me on this. It will happen!” Trump said in the same tweet.

Trump is scheduled to have a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim in Singapore on June 12. Last week, he had suddenly cancelled the meeting after North Korean statements in which they threatened not to attend the summit.

Soon thereafter, the North Korean leaders said they were ready to meet anytime and anywhere. Kim had an unscheduled meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in wherein they discussed ways to revive the summit.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said a pre-advance team is headed to Singapore to prepare for the summit.

According to The Washington Post, Sung Kim, a former US ambassador to South Korea and former nuclear negotiator with the North, has been called in from his post as envoy to the Philippines to lead the preparations. Sung Kim met with North Korea’s Vice-Foreign minister Choe Son Hui, who said last week that Pyongyang was “reconsidering” the talks, the daily said.

The two officials know each other well – both were part of their respective delegations that negotiated the 2005 denuclearization agreement through the six-party framework.

The talks are expected to continue on Monday and Tuesday at Tongilgak, or “Unification House,” the building in the northern part of the demilitarised zone where Kim Jong Un met Moon on Saturday, The Post reported.