The Singapore summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un will only last through lunch, the White House says, a shorter-than-expected meeting time that raises new questions about what, if anything, will actually be accomplished.
The US and North Korean leaders will meet alone with translators at 9:15 am local time tomorrow (June 12), have a joint meeting with advisors, and then they’ll all lunch together with their teams, the White House said today, adding that discussions are “ongoing and have moved more quickly than expected.”
After a 9am greeting, Trump and Kim will meet for just 45 minutes alone, followed by the 10am bilateral meeting and the 11:30am lunch.
Experts on North Korea say that the short meeting time leaves almost no room to forge a path for Pyongyang’s “complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization,” or CVID, which the US State Department was promising just last week.
Here’s the full White House statement:
The discussions between the United States and North Korea are ongoing and have moved more quickly than expected.
President Donald J. Trump will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. Following the initial greeting, President Trump and Chairman Kim will participate in a one-on-one meeting, with translators only, an expanded bilateral meeting, and a working lunch.
The United States delegation at tomorrow’s expanded bilateral meeting will include Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Chief of Staff John Kelly, and National Security Advisor John Bolton. Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, Ambassador Sung Kim, and National Security Council Senior Director for Asia Matt Pottinger will join for the working lunch.
At the conclusion of the summit, President Trump will participate in a media availability before departing tomorrow at approximately 8 p.m. for the United States.
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