WASHINGTON – The Singapore summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is back on for June 12, following a theatrical note…
WASHINGTON – The Singapore summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is back on for June 12, following a theatrical note exchange at the White House Friday.
“Now we’re going to deal,” Trump announced after a 90-minute visit by a North Korean envoy who delivered the note.
The change of heart comes a week after Trump sent a letter to Kim Jong Un calling off the summit after some hot rhetoric from North Korea. But after an Oval Office sit-down with Kim Yong Chol Friday, the president said they are “totally over” last week’s drama and it would be a “big mistake” to call off denuclearization talks with North Korea.
“I think we are going to have a relationship and it will start on June 12,” Trump said.
He lowered expectations for the historic sitdown by calling it “a getting-to-know you meeting – plus” and the beginning of a long process. The US wants complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, and Trump said that Kim is committed to that goal, too.
“He’d like to see it happen,” Trump said. “He just wants to be careful. He’s not going to run and do things.”
Trump pledged to keep sanctions on North Korea until it ends its nuclear program. But he threatened a flurry of new sanctions on the rogue regime if “talks break down.”
“We have hundreds that are ready to go,” he warned.
