Trump says he will size up Kim Jong-un ‘within the first minute’ of Singapore summit
‘Within the first minute, I’ll know. My touch, my feel – that’s what I do,’ says Trump
US President Donald Trump predicted Saturday that he will know almost immediately when meeting Kim Jong-un whether the North Korean leader is serious about negotiating a nuclear deal, suggesting his intuition is enough to size up the leader of the world’s most opaque authoritarian regime.
“Within the first minute, I’ll know. My touch, my feel – that’s what I do,” Trump said during a news conference in Quebec as he prepared to depart the Group of Seven summit en route to Singapore, where he is expected to meet Kim on Tuesday.
“You know the way they say you know if you like somebody in the first five seconds?” he added. “Well, I think very quickly I’ll know whether something good is going to happen. I think I’ll also know whether it will happen fast.”
Trump’s remarks came two days after he said he did not need to do a lot of preparation ahead of the historic summit because the interpersonal relationship between the two leaders would be the more important factor.
Kim Jong-un due to arrive in Singapore on Sunday afternoon
Foreign policy analysts have said that Kim is likely to attempt to get Trump to agree on mostly symbolic steps, including a peace deal to formally end the Korean war, while biding time on significant commitments toward denuclearisation.