Trump suggests summit with N. Korea’s Kim could be delayed

US President Donald Trump suggests that a planned historic meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un could be delayed. He says, “There’s a very substantial chance that it won’t work out” for June 12.

Trump raises the possibility that the meeting could be pushed back during a White House meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, trying to coordinate strategy as concerns mount over ensuring a successful outcome for the North Korea summit.

Trump tells reporters: “If it doesn’t happen, maybe it happens later,” reflecting recent setbacks in efforts to bring about reconciliation between the two Koreas. The North pulled out of planned peace talks with the South last week, objecting to long-scheduled joint military exercises between US and Republic of Korea forces. And the North threatened to abandon the planned Trump-Kim meeting over US insistence on denuclearizing the peninsula.

“There are certain conditions that we want,” Trump says Tuesday. He adds if they aren’t met, “we won’t have the meeting.” He declines to elaborate on those conditions.

Trump says “there’s a very substantial chance” that the meeting won’t take place on June 12. “That doesn’t mean it won’t work out over a period of time,” he says. “But it may not work out for June 12. But there is a good chance that we’ll have the meeting.”

— AP