Trump: North Korean summit set for June 12

President Donald Trump will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore. Trump made the anticipated announcement Thursday morning, hours after welcoming home three American men freed by Kim in a goodwill gesture ahead of the historic summit. “We will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!” Trump tweeted after announcing the meeting details. The president also said he favored meeting in the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, but his advisers pushed for Singapore. Overnight, Trump welcomed the three released Americans with great fanfare, a carefully orchestrated show designed to further bolster the upcoming talks. The president praised Kim for releasing the men: “I really think he wants to do something.” He also said North Korean officials had treated the men well, a claim that contradicted Vice President Mike Pence’s previous comments about harsh conditions. Pence told reporters that one detainee asked to step outside the plane carrying the men back to the United States when it stopped in Anchorage because he hadn’t seen sunlight in a “very long time.” During interviews Thursday morning, Pence tempered criticism of the North Korean regime: “In this moment, the regime in North Korea has been dealing, as far as we can see, in good faith.” But he insisted the United States has “no illusions” about North Korea’s abysmal human rights record.