President Donald Trump confirmed on Friday that his planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will take place in Singapore on June 12. His reversal followed an Oval Office meeting with North Korea’s General Kim Yong Chol, one of Kim’s top lieutenants, who delivered a letter to President Trump from the North Korean leader.
According to a foreign government official briefed on the contents of the letter, it expresses the regime’s interest in meeting Trump without making any significant concessions or threats.
Speaking to reporters outside the Oval Office after General Kim’s departure, the President said the letter was “very nice” and “very interesting,” but acknowledged shortly afterward that he hadn’t read the message as General Kim had asked him to read it later.
“I purposely didn’t open the letter. I may be in for a big surprise, folks,” President Trump said, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Speaking to reporters, Trump also seemed to acknowledge speaking with the North Korean leader, even though it was unclear whether he may have been referring to General Kim instead. When asked if he believed Kim was committed to denuclearization, the President said he told him sanctions would not be lifted until that happens.
“He wants to be careful,” President Trump said. “But I told him, to be honest with you, ‘Look, we have sanctions on.’ They’re very powerful sanctions. We would not take sanctions off unless they did that.”
Following his 70-minute meeting with General Kim, Trump seemed to be in high spirits, but didn’t offer reporters much on the summit, only describing it as “getting-to-know you meeting.” He further seemed to have changed his stance on quick denuclearization of North Korea.
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we walked out and everything was settled all of a sudden from sitting down for a couple of hours? No, I don’t see that happening,” Trump said, adding that “it’s going to be a process.”
According to Bloomberg, Trump’s talk of an open-ended denuclearization process is a striking shift from the quick outcome Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other officials demanded previously. The President also refrained from saying what he hoped to get out of the summit or what the U.S. was prepared to give up.
Victor Cha, who was an Asia expert in the Bush administration, believes that Pyongyang has made no significant concessions while managing, at the same time, to get President Trump to give up a maximum pressure policy.
Others as well cautioned restraint when dealing with North Korea. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was among those advising the President to keep in mind that with such high-profile negotiations, he must not lose sight of the details.
“I think for these situations to work, you have to not want the deal too much,” McConnell said at a political event in Louisville, prior to Trump’s announcement. “If you fall in love with the deal, and it‘s too important for you to get it, and the details become less significant, you could get snookered.”
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