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Trump lands in Singapore to see if gamble on Kim can pay off

Bloomberg Published on Mon, Jun 11, 2018 / 7:23 AM GMT+8

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(June 10): President Donald Trump is about to see whether his bet on North Korea will pay off: that Kim Jong Un’s desire to end his country’s economic strangulation and pariah status will prevail over the dictator’s fear of relinquishing his nuclear threat.

Trump and Kim have yet to agree even on how to define denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula -- the stated goal of the meeting. The president wants the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantling of his nuclear weapons program. North Korea is seeking a security guarantee -- possibly including a peace treaty formally ending the Korean War -- and the removal of the US’s nuclear umbrella protecting allies South Korea and Japan.

The president said Saturday that he expects to know “within the first minute” if Kim is serious about giving up his weapons. The plan is for Trump and Kim to be alone for that first minute, aside from translators; they’ll later be joined by top aides including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton on the US side.