White House reveals the date and time meeting between Trump and Kim

The White House revealed on Monday when President Trump would have his first meeting next week with Kim Jong-un in Singapore as it shored up plans for face-to-face talks between two leaders. 

Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, told reporters assembled for her regular news conference that Trump and Kim would meet at 9 am in Singapore on June 12, which is 9 pm EDT.

‘The advance team in Singapore is finalizing logistical preparations and will remain in place until the summit begins,’ she said in a progress report.

During the briefing, her first since President Trump played host to a delegation of North Korean officials last Friday at the White House, the president’s spokeswoman declined to reveal the contents of a letter that Kim’s emissary delivered. 

She echoed the president’s claim before he ever opened the envelope, however, that it had been an ‘interesting’ read and said that preparations are ‘continuing to move forward.’

President Trump and Kim Yong Chol pose in the Oval Office after Trump accepted a letter from Kim Jong-un on Friday. Trump told reporters afterwards that it was a ‘nice letter’ but then said he hadn’t yet read it

President Donald Trump said Friday after a meeting with the North Korean officials that he would attend the June 12 summit that he hopes will result in a nuclear non-proliferation accord with the hermit nation.

The officials came to Washington, after spending several days in New York, to hand-deliver a letter from Kim to the U.S. president as the two sides worked to come to an agreement on the broad strokes of the deal they intend to hammer out next week, and possibly after that, during formal talks.

‘This was a letter presentation that ended up being a two-hour conversation,’ Trump told reporters on the South Lawn following the Oval Office meeting with North Korea’s Kim Yong Chol, the point-man for North Korean nuclear talks. Trump said that the meeting stretched out, ‘Because we found the whole subject matter very interesting. And because I really think they want to do something.’ 

‘This is a very good meeting. This was a meeting where a letter was given to me by Kim Jong-un. And that letter was a very nice letter. Oh, would you like to see what was in that letter! Would you like it? How much? How much? How much?’ he said, pretending to be an auctioneer taking bids from reporters. 

Trump accepts the personal letter written by Kim Jong-un from envoy Kim Yong Chol. Trump used both hands to take the letter, as is the polite tradition in Korean culture

Trump accepts the personal letter written by Kim Jong-un from envoy Kim Yong Chol. Trump used both hands to take the letter, as is the polite tradition in Korean culture

Trump meets with Kim Yong Chol (far right) and Kim Ju Sung, (second from right) an interpreter with North Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after the letter ceremony on Friday

Trump meets with Kim Yong Chol (far right) and Kim Ju Sung, (second from right) an interpreter with North Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after the letter ceremony on Friday

The Oval Office confab with Kim Yong Chol stretched out 'Because we found the whole subject matter very interesting. And because I really think they want to do something'

The Oval Office confab with Kim Yong Chol stretched out ‘Because we found the whole subject matter very interesting. And because I really think they want to do something’

Several minutes later he seemed to reverse himself, claiming that he had not opened the envelope. ‘No I didn’t. I haven’t seen the letter yet. I purposely didn’t open the letter. I haven’t opened it,’ he told a journalist.

‘I said, “Would you want me to open it?” He said, “You can read it later,”‘ said Trump, apparently referring to the North Korean envoy. 

‘I may be in for a big surprise, folks! So long, everybody,’ he said, retreating back to his office. 

After a week of uncertainty over the June 12 summit, the afternoon’s events locked in Trump and Kim Jong-un for a historic meeting next week in Asia.

‘We’ll be in Singapore. It will be a beginning,’ Trump said.

‘I don’t say, and I never said it happens in one meeting. You’re talking about years of hostility, years of problems, years of really hatred between so many different nations,’ he asserted. ‘But I think you’re going to have a very positive result in the end.’ 

North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol talks with U.S. President Donald Trump as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo looks on after a meeting at the White House

North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol talks with U.S. President Donald Trump as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo looks on after a meeting at the White House

Trump said Friday after receiving the delegation of North Korean officials that he would move forward with a June 12 nuclear summit in Singapore

Trump said Friday after receiving the delegation of North Korean officials that he would move forward with a June 12 nuclear summit in Singapore

COME BACK NOW REAL SOON: President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo say goodbye to Kim and other North Koran officials

COME BACK NOW REAL SOON: President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo say goodbye to Kim and other North Koran officials

We'll be in Singapore. It will be a beginning,' President Trump told reporters on the South Lawn after the foreign officials' departure

We’ll be in Singapore. It will be a beginning,’ President Trump told reporters on the South Lawn after the foreign officials’ departure

A week ago, Trump called off the summit in a terse letter to Kim after the dictator’s regime assaulted the vice president and attempted to dramatically shift the terms of a pact with the U.S.

Trump today said that both he and his counterparts are ‘over that, totally over that, and now we’re going to deal.’ 

‘We’re meeting with the chairman on June 12. And I think it’s probably going to be a very successful, ultimately a successful process. We’ll see,’ the U.S. president added. 

Former North Korean spy chief Kim Yong Chol led the North Korean delegation that met in the Oval Office with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Trump this afternoon.

The officials arrived via a back entrance and were ushered through the building by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly through the president’s private living quarters.

They spent just over an hour at the White House before the president personally escorted Kim and his associates to their vehicles, pausing several times as he did for photo ops, before delivering an update to the press.

Former North Korean spy chief Kim Yong Chol led the North Korean delegation that met in the Oval Office with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Trump this afternoon

Former North Korean spy chief Kim Yong Chol led the North Korean delegation that met in the Oval Office with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Trump this afternoon

They spent just over an hour meeting at the White House before the president personally escorted Chol and his associates to their vehicles and paused for a photo op before speaking to press

They spent just over an hour meeting at the White House before the president personally escorted Chol and his associates to their vehicles and paused for a photo op before speaking to press

The warm display indicated that Trump planned to resume talks with Kim on June 12 in Singapore 

The warm display indicated that Trump planned to resume talks with Kim on June 12 in Singapore 

The warm display indicated that Trump planned to resume talks with Kim Jong-un after abruptly halting them last week. 

Moments after their departure he said the face-to-face would happen as planned.

‘You people are going to have to travel, because you’ll be in Singapore June 12,’ he told assembled press.  

Trump said the initial face-to-face would be more of ‘a get-to-know-you kind of a situation’ for he and Kim, who met on two prior occasions in Pyongyang with Pompeo.   

‘And I think we would be making a big mistake if we didn’t have it,’ he said. 

The U.S. has stipulated that any deal with North Korea has to have a baseline of complete and verifiable denuclearization. 

‘I think they want to do that. I know they want to do that. They want other things along the line,’ Trump on Friday said. 

Kim is seen approaching the Oval Office on Friday alongside White House Chief of Staff John Kelly 

Kim is seen approaching the Oval Office on Friday alongside White House Chief of Staff John Kelly 

The North Korean delegation arrived at the White House via a back entrance 

The North Korean delegation arrived at the White House via a back entrance 

Kim is seen entering the building through the president's private living quarters behind Kelly

Kim is seen entering the building through the president’s private living quarters behind Kelly

Trump said Thursday that he was ‘hopeful’ that the summit would happen as scheduled as he spoke to reporters gathered on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews ahead of a day of fundraising in Texas.

The president revealed that the North Korean delegation would ‘probably’ be coming to Washington on Friday to hand-deliver a letter from the North Korean dictator.  

He claimed then that he didn’t know what was in the letter but believes ‘it’ll be very positive’ and said ‘I look forward to seeing what’s in the letter.’ 

He also said that he’d ‘like to see a total denuclearization in as quick a period of time as is practicable.’

‘You’re talking about machinery, you’re talking about things that can’t necessarily happen immediately but they can happen in as rapid a fashion as they can happen. That’s what I want to happen,’ he said.

He commented that just one sit-down with the communist country may not be enough to ensure it doesn’t pose a nuclear threat, lowering expectations for what might come out of the summit.  

‘I want it to be meaningful. It doesn’t mean it gets all done at one meeting. Maybe a second and third and maybe we’ll have none,’ he said. ‘It’s in good hands. That I can tell you.’ 

Trump tweeted that his administration is having good meetings with representatives of North Korea on Thursday

Trump tweeted that his administration is having good meetings with representatives of North Korea on Thursday

The president is expected to meet June 12 with dictator Kim Jong-un in Singapore, and he said Thursday that the summit will 'hopefully' happen as scheduled

The president is expected to meet June 12 with dictator Kim Jong-un in Singapore, and he said Thursday that the summit will ‘hopefully’ happen as scheduled

The two leaders are expected to sit down to negotiate the terms of North Korea’s withdrawal from an effort to build a nuclear weapon that could reach the United States. 

Pompeo had a working dinner on Wednesday in New York City with top North Korean aide Kim Yong Chol. The pair dined on ‘steak, corn, and cheese,’ according to the secretary of state.

The meeting took place as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Pyongyang for talks with his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-ho.

Kim Yong Chol is the most senior North Korean official to visit the United States since 2000, when Vice Marshal Jo Myong Rok traveled to Washington to meet with then-President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office.

He is conducting one of three sets of parallel talks in the U.S. aimed at salvaging the nuclear summit.

U.S. officials also met with their counterparts this week in demiliterized zone between North and South Korea and in Singapore. 

North and South Korea on Friday resumed senior-level peace talks Seoul sees as an important step in building trust with Pyongyang amid the U.S.-led diplomatic push to persuade the North to give up its nuclear weapons

North and South Korea on Friday resumed senior-level peace talks Seoul sees as an important step in building trust with Pyongyang amid the U.S.-led diplomatic push to persuade the North to give up its nuclear weapons

Inter-Korea dialogue have increased since President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met on April 27

Inter-Korea dialogue have increased since President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met on April 27

Head of the North Korean delegation Ri Son-Gwon (C) is pictured arriving at the DMZ for the meeting with South Korea on Friday

Head of the North Korean delegation Ri Son-Gwon (C) is pictured arriving at the DMZ for the meeting with South Korea on Friday

North Korea Vice-Chairman Kim Yong-chol met Thursday in New York City with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

North Korea Vice-Chairman Kim Yong-chol met Thursday in New York City with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo



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