The White House is prepared if President Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is held as planned on June 12, spokesperson Sarah Sanders said on Tuesday.
Sanders said meetings taking place “over this week” to save the summit “certainly” show signs of progress, Reuters reported. “The president thinks ongoing discussions are going very well,” she said.
“We’re going to be prepared if it takes place on June 12,” she said. “We will certainly be prepared if it for some reason takes place at a later date – we will be prepared for that as well.”
Denuclearisation of North Korea must be on the table for the summit to proceed as planned, Sanders said.
The international community had welcomed the announcement of a summit between the two leaders after months of hostility over North Korea’s nuclear programme. The two countries decided to hold the summit on June 12 in Singapore, but soon after, North Korea threatened to cancel the meeting following a joint military exercise by the US with South Korea.
Both countries have oscillated over holding the summit. On May 24, Trump called off the summit, blaming Pyongyang’s “tremendous anger” and “open hostility”. This came hours after North Korea announced it had dismantled its nuclear bomb test site in Punngye-ri. A day later, North Korea said it was still open to resolving problems with the US “at any time in any way”.
Trump then said his administration was in talks with North Korea and hinted that the summit may go ahead as planned. Kim Jong-un has also expressed his “fixed will” that the summit should go ahead.
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