Summit with North-Korea's Kim may not happen next month: Trump
US President Donald Trump said there's a "very substantial chance" that his planned summit with North Korea's Kim Jong-un may not happen next month and speculated Chinese President Xi Jinping may be behind Pyongyang's new hard line. North Korea last week warned it may cancel the June 12 summit in Singapore with Trump if the US insists on it giving up nuclear weapons unilaterally.
Kim was "serious" about denuclearization, Trump believes
While welcoming South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Trump said that North Korea must meet conditions for the summit to go ahead though if it did not, it might happen "later". The US President also said he believed Kim was "serious" about denuclearization. Earlier, Moon's national security advisor Chung Eui-Yong said that there was a 99.9% chance for the summit to happen.
Kim's attitude surprises President Trump
Trump also said that he was "little surprised" at North Korean leader Kim's "different attitude" after his second meeting with Chinese President Xi. Kim and Xi met in the northeastern city of Dalian in an unannounced visit by the North Korean leader on May 8.
Kim and Xi's second meeting wasn't great, says Trump
Trump said the meeting between Xi and Kim wasn't a great meeting as there has been a change in North Korea's attitude after that. "I think that President Xi is a world-class poker player. I probably may be doing the same thing. But I will say this, there was a somewhat different attitude after that meeting, and I'm a little surprised," Trump said.
Trump seeks South Korean President's opinion over Kim's attitude
"Now President Moon may have a different opinion, I'd like to have your opinion on that. What you thought of the second meeting with President Xi, what is your feeling? You may have an opinion," Trump asked the South Korean President. "I don't want to get him in trouble, he lives next to China. You know, he's not too far away," Trump added.
US is preparing for Trump-Kim summit
Meanwhile, the White House said that the US was preparing for the Trump-Kim summit. "President Donald Trump rightly stated that if North Korea agrees to denuclearize, that it can be a bright future for them. But we remain clear-eyed in these negotiations, but we continue to prepare, and we'll see what happens," the White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said.
