It’s Back On: Donald Trump Says He Will Meet Kim Jong-un On June 12

Just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump met with senior North Korean leader General Kim Yong-chol at the White House, an un-precedented event in itself, the President announced that the cancelled summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was back on schedule. The summit first announced at the beginning of May is scheduled to be held in the city-nation of Singapore on June 12.

"We'll be meeting on June 12th in Singapore. It went very well," President Trump told reporters on the White House lawn. "We've got to know their people very well," he added.

The envoy, Gen Kim Yong-chol, hand-delivered a letter from the North Korean leader to President Trump. Trump said it was "a very interesting letter and at some point it may be appropriate" to share it. He later said he had not yet read it.

Asked about Pyongyang's commitment to denuclearization, Trump said: "I think they want to do that. I know they want to do that." "They want to develop as a country," Trump said. President Trump has offered to help rebuild the North's economy if it scraps its nuclear weapons and has mentioned it multiple times in his correspondence with North Korea.

Kim Yong-Chol’s meeting with the U.S. President occurred after an extensive meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The CNN reported that even as Trump met with Kim Yong-Chol at the White House, separate teams of U.S. officials were making preparations for the summit in Asia. A team of negotiators were holding talks along the Korean Demilitarized Zone to draft some type of document that both leaders could agree to, and a logistics team was in Singapore arranging final details for the talks.

With about two weeks still to go for the summit which is to be held in Singapore, anything could happen including another cancellation. However, if the meeting does happen then it would be a historic one as it would be the first time that a sitting U.S. President has met with the ruler of North Korea since the Korean War.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 02, 2018 01:21 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).