Daily Times

“Whatever it is, we’ll know next week,” he said, speaking to the press at the White House. “If we go, I think it will be a great thing for North Korea.”

Hand-picked aides — including deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin and deputy national security adviser Mira Ricardel — are traveling to the Southeast Asian city state, officials said.

They are expected to meet their North Korean counterparts and iron out details of the meeting.

Earlier Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said it is now up to North Korean whether the summit goes ahead.

Asked in a hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee if the summit, tentatively planned for Singapore on June 12, will take place, Pompeo replied: “That decision will ultimately be up to Chairman Kim.”

“He asked for the meeting, the president agreed to meet with him,” Pompeo said. “I’m very hopeful that that meeting will take place.”

His remarks reflect an effort to put the ball back in Pyongyang’s court and perhaps lay the groundwork for blame should the talks fail.

Ostensibly the Trump-Kim talks will be about peace on the Korean peninsula and North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic weapons.

But even before talk of test freezes, decommissioning or inspections, Washington and Pyongyang are engaged in a public relations battle.

As part of a charm offensive, North Korea invited some foreign journalists to witness the slated destruction of the isolated regime’s nuclear test site.

The gesture, which experts agree would do little to curb North Korea’s long-term nuclear capabilities, is meant to signal that the regime is serious about change.

Pyongyang said it planned to “completely” destroy the Punggye-ri facility in the country’s northeast when it made the surprise announcement earlier this month. Washington and Seoul welcomed the move.

Punggye-ri has been the staging ground for all six of the North’s nuclear tests, including its latest and by far most powerful one last September, which Pyongyang said was an H-bomb.

Last week, Pyongyang threatened to pull out if Washington pressed for its unilateral nuclear disarmament. Trump also said the meeting could be delayed as he met with South Korean leader Moon Jae-in in Washington on Tuesday.