Preparations for North Korea summit moving along very well: Trump
US President Donald Trump today said that preparations for the June 12 Singapore Summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are moving along very well. His statement comes a day after Singapore designated a special event area of the Sentosa island tourist resort for the historic summit, which is expected to be covered by over 2,500 journalists from across the world. Here's more.
Initial uncertainty over Trump-Kim summit now cleared
There was initially much uncertainty over whether the summit would go ahead at all, and it was briefly called off last month by Trump after a dispute with the North Koreans over the key issue of denuclearization. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would be at the White House later this week for talks with Trump on the latter's summit meeting with North Korea.
Multiple meetings between the two countries are happening simultaneously
Multiple US and North Korean teams are holding simultaneous meetings ahead of the Singapore summit. "It will be a very important couple of days," Trump said. At the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met his Singaporean counterpart, wherein among other things they discussed the summit which is being hosted by Singapore.
Not paying North Koreans' expenses in Singapore: US spokesperson
Refuting media reports, US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said the US is not paying for North Korean delegation's Singapore stay. "We have had teams negotiating not only in the Demilitarized Zone every day...(but) in Singapore as well. Meetings in Singapore tend to focus more on logistics, negotiating security, protocol," Nauert said, adding Pompeo sometimes speaks multiple times a day with his negotiating teams.
Summit is just the beginning of process: Republican Senator
Top Republican Senator Marco Rubio said that the Singapore Summit is just the beginning of a process and nothing major would come out of it. "I think at some point during this process, North Koreans would want to extend this and China is probably trying to finagle its way into it. So, this will turn into a China-US-South Korea-North Korea talks," Rubio said.
To have a good deal, it will take time: Rubio
To have a good deal with North Korea is going to take a little bit of time, Marco Rubio said. "The important thing for us is we should not be lifting any sanctions or providing any relief until we see a clear path forward on complete and irreversible denuclearization and getting rid of the missiles," the Republican Senator said.
