Trump, Kim meeting uncertain

U.S. President Donald Trump said the much anticipated meeting between him and North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un at Singapore on June 12, is not yet certain.

Trump, who held a bilateral meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, at White House, said he would be okay with whatever happens about the summit.

North Korea had recently threatened to withdraw from the summit and giving conditions to the U.S. and South Korea before the meeting could go ahead.

Trump said: “If it does, that will be great. It will be a great thing for North Korea. And if it doesn’t, that’s okay too. Whatever it is, it is”.

He said, however, that he believed Kim was serious about the meeting adding, “I think he would like to see that happen”.

“There are certain conditions that we want, and I think we’ll get those conditions. And if we don’t, we don’t have the meeting.

“And frankly, it has a chance to be a great, great meeting for North Korea and a great meeting for the world.

“If it doesn’t happen, maybe it will happen later. Maybe it will happen at a different time. But we will see.

“But we are talking. The meeting is scheduled, as you know, on June 12th in Singapore. And whether or not it happens, you’ll be knowing pretty soon. But we’re talking right now,” he said.

Trump said the condition given by the U.S. was the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, expressing strong optimism: “And it must take place”.

The South Korean leader, on his part, thanked Trump for his “vision of achieving peace through strength”.
Moon said his country was looking forward to the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit.

“And we find ourselves standing one step closer to the dream of achieving complete denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and world peace adding: “All this was possible because of you”.

“And I have no doubt that you will be able to complete – accomplish a historic feat that no one had been able to achieve in the decades past,” Moon said. (NAN)