SINGAPORE (AP) — Latest on a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump in Singapore (all times local): 10:30 a.m. France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian (le dree-AHN) says he will be the first one to applaud U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un if they reach a deal on nuclear weapons disarmament of the Korean Peninsula.
Le Drian says that “everything that has to do with disarmament is positive.” The French foreign minister met Monday with his Swedish counterpart Margot Wallstrom in Stockholm. Le Drian cautions “we have been enthusiastic before and it has led to failures.”
Wallstrom hosted talks in March with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho in Stockholm. She says one should be prepared for both “a fruitful meeting and a failure.”
9:56 p.m.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is out of his luxurious hotel for a late-night city tour hours ahead of his summit with President Donald Trump.
Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan (Bal-a-krish-nan) says Kim went to the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore on Monday night.
The foreign minister posted a photo showing him with Kim at the place on Facebook.
South Korean media says Kim went there with his sister Kim Yo Jong and other top deputies.
Kim is meeting Trump on Tuesday for a historic summit aimed at discussing the future of his nuclear program.
It would be the first summit between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.
8:20 p.m.
The White House says in a statement ahead of President Donald Trump’s historic summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un that the talks with North Korea are moving “more quickly than expected.” The White House says Trump now plans to depart Singapore on Tuesday evening ahead of schedule.
The White House says Trump will address the media on Tuesday following his summit with Kim and depart Singapore at approximately 8 p.m. local time for the United States. The president had been expected to leave Singapore on Wednesday morning.
Trump is set to meet with Kim in Singapore on Tuesday morning.
7:30 p.m.
Seoul says President Donald Trump talked with South Korean President Moon Jae-in (jah-YIHN’) about his upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and expressed optimism for a diplomatic breakthrough.
South Korea’s presidential office says Trump filled Moon on the details of the pre-summit negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang. The Blue House didn’t elaborate on what Moon was told during the 40 minute telephone call.
The Blue House says Moon told him South Koreans will be praying for a “miraculous result.”
Moon said earlier he hopes the summit will be a “historic milestone” for peace but it will only be the first step in a complex and lengthy process. Moon says the hostility “cannot be solved at once by a single meeting between the leaders.”
6:25 p.m.
Iran says North Korea should be wary of negotiating with President Donald Trump following his withdrawal from the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said Monday that North Korea should approach this week’s summit with Trump with “awareness.” He says Iran views Trump and the United States with “great pessimism,” saying they are known for “quitting treaties and violating their commitments.”
Trump withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which the Obama administration had reached with Iran, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia. The agreement required Iran to curb its uranium enrichment in exchange for relief from international sanctions.
Trump has announced the restoration of U.S. sanctions, while European leaders are trying to preserve the deal.
The U.S. president is set to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on Tuesday.
6:15 p.m.
President Donald Trump has accepted an invitation to return to Singapore for a state visit this fall.
That’s according to Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Trump is expected to travel to Asia in November in conjunction with a pair of regional summits.
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the president’s fall plans.
A White House read-out of Trump’s meetings with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (lee haz-ee-en lahng) Monday did not include mention of a state visit.
Singapore will be hosting Trump’s summit Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
6:00 p.m.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States is prepared to take actions to provide North Korea with “sufficient certainty” that denuclearization “is not something that ends badly for them.”
Pompeo is briefing reporters in Singapore ahead of President Donald Trump’s summit Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He says the U.S. is prepared to show North Korea that rather than denuclearization posing a threat to North Korea, it’s “the opposite.”
Pompeo won’t say whether Trump would consider withdrawing U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula.
Pompeo says that U.S. sanctions on the North will remain in place until the North denuclearizes. But he says if diplomacy fails to move in the right direction, the sanctions “will increase.”
5:50 p.m.
President Donald Trump called the leaders of South Korea and Japan Monday ahead of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
That’s according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is briefing reporters in Singapore. He says Trump spoke by phone with the two U.S. allies as preparatory talks continue between American and North Korean officials ahead of the leader sit-down Tuesday morning.
Pompeo says there is “enormous potential” for the summit, but lowered expectations that the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula will happen after one meeting. He says: “We are hopeful the summit will have set the conditions for future productive talks.”
Pompeo also says Tuesday’s meeting presents a test of Kim’s willingness to agree to deal his nuclear weapons away for “protections” from the United States.
3:05 p.m.
The lobby of President Donald Trump’s hotel in Singapore has turned into a bustling mixing ground for U.S government officials of all stripes.
At the swanky Shangri-La Hotel, Secret Service officers are huddling in preparation for the president’s movements. White-uniformed U.S. Navy members are perched on pearl-colored couches. Top State Department officials can be seen strolling through the lobby. An Associated Press journalist spotted CIA officer Andy Kim, a Korea expert and part of the U.S. delegation, making his way through.
They’re joined by seemingly unsuspecting tourists, youth groups and a curiously dressed bellman with a tall, plumed hat.
The hotel was picked in part due to its experience in hosting high-security events. Recently top military officials including U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis were at the hotel for the Shangri-La Dialogue, a global defense summit.
2:20 p.m.
President Donald Trump has returned to his hotel in Singapore following a lunch meeting with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (lee haz-ee-en lahng).
Singapore is hosting Tuesday’s historic summit between Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to discuss the fate of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who sat next to Trump at the lunch, says in a statement that Trump is “well-prepared” for the meeting.
Pompeo met Kim during two visits to North Korea in the lead-up to Tuesday’s summit.
Trump was scheduled to attend a meet-and-greet at his hotel with U.S. Embassy personnel.
2:10 p.m.
President Donald Trump got an early birthday celebration during lunch with Singapore’s prime minister.
Trump met with Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (lee haz-ee-en lahng) and aides to both leaders Monday. Singapore’s minister for foreign affairs tweeted a photo of Trump and a cake adorned with one candle.
The caption said: “Celebrating birthday, a bit early.”
Trump turns 72 on Thursday.
But before he celebrates, Trump meets North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in a highly anticipated summit on Tuesday.
2 p.m.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in (jah-YIHN’) has no current plans to join President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the end of their summit Tuesday in Singapore.
Moon spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom also said Monday that Moon has no plans yet to speak with Trump after the meeting.
Moon has expressed hope that the summit will lead to a three-way declaration also including Seoul to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War. But Moon’s spokesman says it’s unlikely that such a declaration would take place while Trump and Kim were still in Singapore.
Trump has raised the possibility of further summits and an agreement ending the Korean War by replacing the armistice signed in 1953 with a peace treaty. China and South Korea would have to sign off on any legal treaty.
1:15 p.m.
President Donald Trump says he thinks “things can work out very nicely” with North Korea on the eve of his historic summit with Kim Jong Un.
Trump expressed optimism about Tuesday’s meeting during a working lunch with Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (lee haz-ee-en lahng) and aides to both leaders.
Trump says “we’ve got a very interesting meeting in particular tomorrow, and I think things can work out very nicely.” He also tells Lee the decision to hold the summit in the island city-state of Singapore was “made very consciously” and offers thanks.
Trump tells Lee that “we appreciate your hospitality and professionalism and your friendship.”
1:05 p.m.
President Donald Trump has thanked the prime minister of Singapore for hosting Tuesday’s historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump told Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (lee haz-ee-en lahng) that it was a “real honor” to be with him. Trump commented as representatives from both countries took their seats for a working lunch at Singapore’s government house.
The discussions come on the eve of Trump’s historic meeting with Kim.
Trump and Lee shook hands for photographers after a one-on-one meeting and before they entered the room for lunch.
Among those representing the U.S. at lunch are Secretary of Secretary Mike Pompeo, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and National Security Adviser John Bolton.
1 p.m.
The U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, Sung Kim, plans another round of meetings Monday afternoon with North Korean officials as both sides continue to prepare for Tuesday’s summit in Singapore.
That according to a senior official in President Donald Trump’s administration. The official was not authorized to comment publicly about on internal deliberations and requested anonymity.
Trump is set to hold a historic summit Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the island city-state.
Sung Kim has taken the lead on policy negotiations with North Korea. Sung Kim held an initial round of meetings with the North earlier Monday.
12:20 p.m.
President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un spent Monday huddling with advisers in luxury Singapore hotels less than half a mile apart, readying for a nuclear summit that could define the fate of millions, and their own political futures.
Both sides also worked to finalize preparations for the unprecedented summit.
The meeting was kicking off at 9 a.m. Tuesday with a handshake between Trump and Kim. A U.S. official says the leaders then plan to meet one on one, joined only by translators, for up to two hours before admitting their respective advisers.
The official was not authorized to speak publicly about internal deliberations and insisted on anonymity.
Tuesday’s summit will be the first between a North Korean leader and a sitting American president.
“She says one should be prepared for both “a fruitful meeting and a failure.”
Guess there’s no middle ground.
“Tuesday’s summit will be the first between a North Korean leader and a sitting American president.”
Translation: Two dictators will be hashing it out.