Trump Says Singapore Summit with Kim Is Back On

Trump Says Singapore Summit with Kim Is Back On

A week after abruptly scrapping his prized summit with Kim Jong Un, President Donald Trump buoyantly announced on Friday the historic talks were back on for June 12 in Singapore.

His reversal came after receiving a letter from Kim, hand delivered to the White House by the dictator’s top envoy. Trump initially told reporters the missive was “very interesting.” But he later acknowledged he hadn’t read it yet.

The contents of the note from Pyongyang appeared to matter little to Trump, who sounded an optimistic — and conciliatory — note about the prospects for a deal. He said harsh statements from the North lampooning Vice President Mike Pence and threatening nuclear war were a thing of the past.

“I think we’re over that, totally over that, and now we’re going to deal and we’re going to really start a process,” Trump said on the South Lawn after meeting with the North Korean envoy, Kim Yong Chol, for more than an hour in the Oval Office.

“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,” Trump said.

The announcement capped an electric day of diplomacy at the White House, which included the highest-level meeting between a US president and a North Korean official since 2000.