Talks with N. Korea have moved at a quick pace, says U.S.

Donald Trump says summit with Kim could work out ‘very nicely’

South Korean students unfurling a reunification flag with a slogan that reads “We will make a peaceful Korean peninsula with our own hands”.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who rarely ventures outside his isolated country, visited tourist sites on Singapore’s waterfront on Monday, hours before a historic summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Mr. Trump said earlier the Tuesday summit with Mr. Kim on a Singapore resort island could “work out very nicely” as officials from both countries sought to narrow differences on how to end a nuclear stand-off on the Korean peninsula.

Note of caution

But U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo injected a note of caution ahead of the first-ever meeting of U.S. and North Korean leaders on Tuesday, saying that it remained to be seen whether Mr. Kim was sincere about his willingness to denuclearise. Earlier, officials from the two sides held last-minute talks aimed at laying the groundwork for the summit.

Offering a preview to reporters on the eve of the summit, Mr. Pompeo said it could provide “an unprecedented opportunity to change the trajectory of our relationship and bring peace and prosperity” to North Korea. However, he played down the possibility of a quick breakthrough and said the summit should set the framework for ”the hard work that will follow”, insisting that North Korea had to move toward complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation.

Sanctions on North Korea would remain in place until that had happened, Mr. Pompeo said.

The White House later said discussions with North Korea had moved “more quickly than expected” and Mr. Trump would leave Singapore on Tuesday night, after the summit. He had earlier been scheduled to leave on Wednesday. Mr. Kim is due to leave on Tuesday afternoon, a source involved in the planning of his visit to Singapore, said on Sunday.

Meet with Singapore PM

Although gaps remain over what denuclearisation would entail, Mr. Trump sounded a positive note in a lunch meeting with Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. “We’ve got a very interesting meeting... tomorrow, and I just think it’s going to work out very nicely,” he said.

A U.S. official said said Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim would hold a one-on-one meeting on Tuesday that could last up to two hours.

He described it as a “get to know you plus” meeting.Later, they would be joined by their respective negotiating teams for discussions that could last another hour.