Trump’s North Korea Summit Is Back On

By Jeff Schogol

Posted on Jun 1, 2018

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President Donald Trump announced Friday that his much-hyped summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un was back on for June 12th in Singapore.

  • On Friday, the president met with a North Korean envoy for more than two hours. Afterward, Trump told reporters that the United States would hold off on imposing more sanctions on North Korea unless talks break down.
  • The summit is expected to be a “getting to know you” meeting that will lead to future talks, the president said. “We’re not going to go in and sign something on June 12th and we never were,” Trump told reporters on Friday. “We’re going to start a process. And I told them today: ‘Take your time. We can go fast. We can go slowly.’ But I think they’d like to see something happen. And if we can work that out, that will be good. But the process will begin on June 12th in Singapore.”
  • Trump cancelled the proposed summit on May 24 after a North Korean official sharply criticized Vice President Mike Pence.
  • The president indicated that the United States may ease its “maximum pressure” campaign against North Korea. “I don’t even want to use the term ‘maximum pressure’ anymore because I don’t want to use that term because we’re getting along,” he said. “You see the relationship. We’re getting along.”
  • Now that the summit is back on, U.S. Pacific Command deferred media questions to the White House. “The DOD continues to support the White House and State Department as they plan for the summit between President Trump and Kim Jung-un,” said Pentagon spokesman Marine Lt. Col. Christopher Logan.
  • The upcoming summit could include talks on a peace treaty that finally ends the Korean War, the president said. North and South Korea remain in a technical state of war. The conflict ended in an armistice in 1953. “We talked about ending the war,” Trump said. “And you know, this war has been going on – it’s got to be the longest war – almost 70 years, right? And there is a possibility of something like that. That’s more of a signing of a document that it’s very important in one way. Historically, it’s very important. But we’ll see.”

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UPDATE: This story was updated on June 1 with President Trump’s comments to reporters.