Is Kim Jong Un serious about denuclearisation? Trump says he will know 'within the first minute'

US President Donald Trump predicted today that he would know within a minute of meeting Kim Jong Un whether his "one-time shot" at peace with the North Korean leader had a chance of succeeding.
Speaking just before embarking on his marathon journey to Singapore for the pair's historic summit, Trump bristled with confidence as he boasted that contacts between their respective negotiating teams had been positive.

"It's unknown territory in the truest sense but I really feel confident," Trump said as he prepared to leave the ongoing G7 summit in Canada early and head to Asia. "I feel that Kim Jong Un wants to do something great for his people and he has that opportunity... It's a one-time shot," he said at a press conference, adding that the North Koreans had been working "very well with us." After his remarks, Trump headed to the Canadian air base at Bagotville by helicopter before boarding Air Force One and setting off for Singapore, where he was scheduled to arrive late Sunday.

Trump and Kim are to have the first ever US-North Korea summit in Singapore on Tuesday, with the American leader hoping his counterpart will scrap his nuclear weapons program in return for security guarantees. The US president was the first of the G7 leaders to leave the summit in Canada where he briefed his peers on the meeting.

"I am on a mission of peace and we're going to be carrying the hearts of millions of people from all over the world," he said. "We have to get denuclearization, we have to get something going." Asked how long it would take for him to work out if Kim was serious about striking some kind of peace deal, Trump replied: "I think within the first minute I'll know."It's just my touch, my feel. That's what I do.

"I think I'll know pretty quickly whether or not, in my opinion, something positive will happen. And if I think it won't happen, I'm not going to waste my time. I don't want to waste his time." - 'Positive spirit' - The summit between Kim and Trump will cap a remarkable turnaround in relations between two men who were trading furious insults less than six months ago. After North Korea carried out a series of long-range missile tests that potentially put the US mainland in range of a nuclear strike, Trump promised to respond with "fire and fury".

He also ridiculed Kim in a speech at the UN General Assembly as "Little Rocket Man" who in turn called Trump a "dotard". But after a cooling of the rhetoric, both sides began forging tentative contacts that eventually saw Mike Pompeo -- the former head of the CIA who is now secretary of state -- meet Kim in Pyongyang.

Some critics have said the summit is being rushed through, with Trump keen to chalk up his first major foreign policy achievement. But the president insisted the US was leaving no stone unturned in its preparations, while warning that patience was needed.

"Our people have been working very, very well with the representatives of North Korea. We're going in with a very positive attitude and I think we're going to come out fine," he added. "But I've said it many times, who knows? Who knows? may not. May not work out. There's a good chance it won't work out. There's probably an even better chance that it will take a period of time. It will be a process." Trump's efforts to make peace with a country that is still technically at war with the United States received backing from his fellow G7 members in a joint statement issued after the US president's departure.

"We continue to call on North Korea to completely, verifiably, and irreversibly dismantle all of its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and ballistic missiles as well as its related programs and facilities," it said. "The dismantlement of all of its WMD and ballistic missiles will lead to a more positive future for all people on the Korean Peninsula and a chance of prosperity for the people of North Korea, who have suffered for too long."

A cargo plane which accompanied North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on his recent visit to China has departed Pyongyang and was likely headed for Singapore on Sunday, ahead of Kim's summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Kim is due to meet Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the city-state later on Sunday, Singapore's ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement. Kim will fly into Changi airport on Sunday, a source told Reuters earlier this week. Trump will meet with Lee on Monday. He is scheduled to arrive at Singapore's Paya Lebar Airbase at 8:35 p.m. on Sunday and go to the Shangri-La Hotel, according to the White House.

His delegation onboard Air Force One includes Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, National Security Adviser John Bolton, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders. Kim has taken only one known overseas trip by air since becoming leader in 2011 and the Ilyushin-76 cargo plane accompanied his personal Ilyushin-62M jet to Dalian in China in May. An Il-76 departed Pyongyang early on Sunday and stopped in Guangzhou in southern China before being airborne again likely headed for Singapore, flight tracking services showed.

Refrigerator trucks will be waiting at Changi Airport on Sunday to receive the cargo flight, Singapore's Straits Times newspaper reported, saying the plane is believed to be carrying food items as well as several luxury cars to escort the North Korean leader. The Il-76 cannot fly more than 3,000 km (1,860 miles) without refuelling if carrying a full load. It was expected to stop off at a friendly location on the way to Singapore, which is 4,700 km (2,920 miles) from Pyongyang's Sunan airport, or fly with a reduced load. The Il-76, originally designed for moving heavy machinery to remote parts of the Soviet Union, is big enough to fit a school bus or two shipping containers inside it, according to passenger and cargo flight operator Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions.