White House says Trump, Kim to meet at 9am Singapore time on June 12

Preparations for a summit meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are going well, and the two are tentatively scheduled to meet at 9am Singapore time on June 12, the White House said on Monday.

The announcement of the timing for the first meeting between the two leaders came just three days after Trump hosted a North Korean delegation at the White House bearing a letter from Kim.

Trump, who had earlier cancelled the summit meeting, abruptly announced that it was back on.

Asked about the contents of Kim’s letter, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders declined to “get into the specifics” but added that “we feel like things are continuing to move forward and good progress has been made”.

“I can tell you the president has been receiving daily briefings on North Korea from his national security team,” she added. “And I can also tell you the schedule tentatively for that first meeting will be on June 12 at 9am Singapore time” – June 11 at 9pm EDT.

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Asked whether the US maximum-pressure campaign against North Korea would continue, Sanders said that US policy had not changed and that Washington continued to maintain tough sanctions on Pyongyang.

“We have sanctions on, they are very powerful and we would not take those sanctions off unless North Korea denuclearised,” Sanders said.

Trump said last week he no longer wanted to use the phrase “maximum pressure” to describe the campaign because North Korea was being more cooperative, even though the United States is keeping its sanctions in place.