Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un to meet alone at Singapore summit

David Jackson | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption President Trump 'fully prepared' for North Korea summit Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says talks with North Korea are progressing and he refuted a New York Times report that he believes suggested the U.S. lacks the technical expertise on dismantling North Korea's weapons program.

SINGAPORE – Facing a high-stakes challenge to get North Korea to give up nuclear weapons, President Donald Trump plans to speak alone with Kim Jong Un during their historic summit meeting, officials said Monday.

The one-on-one session, plus translators, will supplement bigger meetings involving the leaders and their aides about proposals to help North Korea if it agrees to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs.

The White House announced that Trump will leave Singapore on Tuesday night, local time, a day ahead of schedule.

"The president is fully prepared for the meeting," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in previewing the first summit between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader.

Trump and Kim are scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday in Singapore, which is 9 p.m. Monday in Washington.

Detailed discussions between U.S. and North Korea officials "are ongoing and have moved more quickly than expected," the White House said in a statement.

"Following the initial greeting, President Trump and Chairman Kim will participate in a one-on-one meeting, with translators only, an expanded bilateral meeting and a working lunch," the statement said.

Kim has long refused to give up nuclear weapons, claiming they are essential to defending his country.

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A Trump decision to meet alone with Kim may not help, analysts said, because either leader could misrepresent statements by the other unless witnesses are present.

"Trump is simply not experienced enough or temperamentally inclined to handle the complexity of nuclear negotiations or issues as complex as those associated with the long history of the Koreas," said David Rothkopf, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Given the track record of North Korea and Trump to "dissemble," Rothkopf said, "it is a minimum best practice to have a witness to the conversation."

Pompeo said Kim and the North Koreans proclaimed they are willing to denuclearize, and "we are eager to see if those words prove sincere."

The trip to Singapore for the summit is "truly a mission of peace," he said.

North Korea's state-run news agency said Kim plans to discuss "the issue of building a permanent and durable peacekeeping mechanism on the Korean Peninsula, the issue of realizing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and other issues of mutual concern."

An air of mystery surrounded much of the Trump-Kim summit. Reuters reported that Kim may leave Singapore at 2 p.m. Tuesday, five hours after the start of the meeting with Trump.

Trump had been scheduled to leave Singapore on Wednesday morning, but that departure was moved up to Tuesday night. The president is likely to take questions before heading back to the USA.

Other topics that may surface at the summit include negotiations for a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War, which technically still exists under a cease-fire reached in 1953.

In making final preparations for the Kim summit, Trump spoke by phone Monday with interested parties in the region, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Abe visited Trump at the White House last week.

The South Korean government said in a statement that Moon offered his assessment of Kim and wished the U.S. president an early happy birthday. Trump turns 72 Thursday.

A successful summit "would be a big present for the world, as well as a good present for President Trump's birthday," the South Korean statement said.

Trump and aides said they do not expect to sign a major denuclearization agreement at this summit. Instead, they are looking for a commitment from Kim to move forward on negotiating the details of a complete and verifiable dismantling of North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.

After the summit, Pompeo said, "there's going to be a lot of work left to do."

Trump offers to lift economic sanctions on North Korea and provide other forms of economic assistance if the regime agrees to give up its nuclear weapons programs. The American president expressed confidence that Kim will take him up on this "one-shot opportunity" to help improve North Korea's standard of living.

During the run-up to the summit, Trump said he would be able to determine quickly whether or not Kim is sincere when it comes to denuclearization.

"I think within the first minute I'll know," he said.