Trump says he will know in first minute if North Korea summit will succeed

Published June 10, 2018
Seoul: South Korean peace group members hold candles during a rally to wish for peace and success at the upcoming summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, near the US embassy, on Saturday. President Trump and the North’s leader will meet next week in Singapore for their unprecedented summit.—AFP
Seoul: South Korean peace group members hold candles during a rally to wish for peace and success at the upcoming summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, near the US embassy, on Saturday. President Trump and the North’s leader will meet next week in Singapore for their unprecedented summit.—AFP

LA MALBAIE: US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would know within a minute whether something good will come of his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, which he described as a “mission of peace.”

“I think within the first minute I’ll know. Just my touch, my feel. That’s what I do,” Trump told reporters at a news conference at the G7 summit in Quebec.

“And if I think it won’t happen — I’m not going to waste my time. I don’t want to waste his time.” The main issue for the June 12 summit in Singapore is the US demand for North Korea to abandon a nuclear weapons programme that now threatens the United States.

“I have a clear objective, but I have to say — it’s going to be something that will always be spur of the moment,” Trump said. “You don’t know. This has not been done before at this level. This is a leader who really is an unknown personality.”

North Korea has rejected giving up its arsenal unilaterally and defends its nuclear and missile programs as a deterrent against what it sees as US aggression. The United States stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean War.

“I feel really confident. It’s never been done, it’s never been tested,” said Trump.

“So we are going in with a really positive spirit.”

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2018

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