North Korea’s Kim Jong-un ‘set on Trump summit’

It is North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s “fixed will” that a summit with US President Donald Trump in Singapore should go ahead, state media say.

This followed a surprise meeting on Saturday between Mr Kim and the South’s Moon Jae-in, who said the North was “committed to denuclearisation”.

Mr Trump had cancelled the 12 June summit, citing the North’s “hostility”.

But on Saturday he said that the date “hasn’t changed” and that things were “moving along very nicely”.

After Mr Kim and Mr Moon had met on Saturday in the demilitarised zone between the two nations, the North’s state media added that “top leaders” from the two nations would hold more talks on Friday.

What came out of Saturday’s surprise talks?

The North’s KCNA agency released a detailed statement on the meeting and the South Korean president also delivered remarks. It was the leaders’ second meeting in as many months.

Mr Moon said he and Mr Kim had “agreed that the 12 June summit should be held successfully” and that the North Korean leader had “again made clear his commitment to a complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula”.

But Mr Moon suggested Mr Kim was not certain whether Washington could guarantee the stability of his regime.

“What Kim is unclear about is that he has concerns about whether his country can surely trust the United States over its promise to end hostile relations,” Mr Moon said.

The KCNA statement said the two leaders had had a “candid dialogue” and that Mr Kim had “expressed his fixed will on the historic… summit talks”. He had called for co-operation to “establish a mechanism for permanent and durable peace” and the opening of a “new era of reconciliation and unity”.

What did Mr Trump say?

At the White House late on Saturday he said: “It’s moving along very nicely. We’re looking at June 12 in Singapore. That hasn’t changed.”

He also took to Twitter to angrily dismiss media speculation that the summit, even if reinstated, could not now be held in Singapore in the existing time frame:

The White House confirmed that an advance team of officials would leave for Singapore this weekend, as originally scheduled, to prepare for the possible summit.

Mr Trump had declared the summit cancelled on Thursday, blaming North Korea’s “tremendous anger and open hostility”, but then tweeted on Friday that “very productive talks” had taken place with the North.

BBC