US President Donald Trump predicted today that he would know within a minute of meeting Kim Jong Un whether his "one-time shot" at peace with the North Korean leader had a chance of succeeding.
Speaking just before embarking on his marathon journey to Singapore for the pair's historic summit, Trump bristled with confidence as he boasted that contacts between their respective negotiating teams had been positive. "It's unknown territory in the truest sense but I really feel confident," Trump said as he prepared to leave the ongoing G7 summit in Canada early and head to Asia.
"I feel that Kim Jong Un wants to do something great for his people and he has that opportunity... It's a one-time shot," he said at a press conference, adding that the North Koreans had been working "very well with us." After his remarks, Trump headed to the Canadian air base at Bagotville by helicopter before boarding Air Force One and setting off for Singapore, where he was scheduled to arrive late tomorrow.
Trump and Kim are due to have the first ever US-North Korea summit in Singapore on Tuesday, with the American leader hoping his counterpart will scrap his nuclear weapons program in return for security guarantees.
The US president is the first of the G7 leaders to leave the summit in Canada where he has briefed his peers on the meeting. "I am on a mission of peace and we're going to be carrying the hearts of millions of people from all," he said. "We have to get denuclearization, we have to get something going."
"I think I'll know pretty quickly whether or not, in my opinion, something positive will happen. And if I think it won't happen, I'm not going to waste my time. I don't want to waste his time."
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