US President Donald Trump has said that he was optimistic about the North Korea-US Summit, when he is scheduled to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Singapore’s Sentosa Island.
By
BENNY DWI KOESTANTO
·4 minutes read
SINGAPORE, KOMPAS – US President Donald Trump has said that he was optimistic about the North Korea-United States Summit on Tuesday (12/6/2018), when he is scheduled to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Singapore’s Sentosa Island. He expressed his hope that the meeting would go well and in line with Washington’s wishes. According to Trump, the United States has prepared a special security guarantee for North Korea if Pyongyang was willing to start a verified and irreversible complete denuclearization program.
Trump made the statement on Monday (11/6/2018) after his bilateral meeting with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The meeting at the Istana in Singapore was 45 minutes long and ended with a luncheon, at which Trump was presented with a birthday cake. He will celebrate his 72nd birthday on June 14. “We have a very interesting meeting in particular [on Tuesday], and I think things can work out very nicely,” said Trump.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shared Trump’s optimism at a special press conference in Singapore. He said that preparatory talks involving Washington, including a meeting of American and North Korean diplomats in Singapore, went smoothly and moved more quickly than expected. This would hopefully sow the seeds for a successful meeting between Kim and Trump.
“We are hopeful this summit will set the conditions for future fruitful talks,” said Pompeo. “There are only two people that can make decisions of this magnitude, and those two people are going to be sitting in a room together tomorrow.”
Neither Kim nor the North Korean government issued statements on their final preparations for the historic summit.
Pompeo underlined that there would be no changes to the US demands for North Korea in terms of the denuclearization program. Washington would only accept full denuclearization from Pyongyang.
He said this was in line with studies and researches that Washington had conducted that involved at least 4,000 experts – mainly on nuclear weapons and chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction – to determine the best policy toward Pyongyang. In return, Trump would offer a “unique and different” security guarantee for Pyongyang that was different from previous offers. Pompeo did not clarify the issue further.
“We’re prepared to take actions that will provide [North Korea] sufficient certainty that they can be comfortable that denuclearization isn’t something that ends badly for them,” Pompeo said. “Indeed, just the opposite: that it leads to a brighter, better future for the North Korean people.”
Important foundations
Kompas reporter Suhartono reported from Tokyo that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he hoped the meeting between Trump and Kim would serve as an important foundation for peace amid the developments in emerging Asian countries.
“I feel that the meeting between the two leaders will bury the gloomy past and bring new hope for the international community, for a better future on the Korean Peninsula,” Abe said in a speech at a dinner on Monday evening with participants of the International Conference on the Future of Asia, organized by the Nikkei business daily at Tokyo’s Imperial Hotel.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and other Asian leaders also attended the dinner.
Abe said that, before speaking at the conference, he had received a phone call from Trump on his planned meeting with Kim. “I received detailed explanations from President Trump on what he would talk [about] with Kim,” he said.
Regarding North Korea’s denuclearization plan, Abe said there was no other way than to establish an economic partnership between North Korea and other countries. North Korea has potential natural resources and a strong workforce to support Asia’s economy. Abe said that North Korea could establish cooperation with Japan.