iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The White House is still planning to send a team to Singapore in case a summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un happens after all.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that a “pre-advance team for Singapore will leave as scheduled in order to prepare should the summit take place.”
The statement comes after news of a surprise meeting Saturday morning between Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in to discuss a potential summit between the North Korean leader and Trump.
Trump announced earlier this week that he was canceling the planned June 12 summit with Kim. But, on Friday evening, the president tweeted that such a meeting could still happen on that date.
The last time — two weeks ago — that a White House delegation traveled in advance of the planned summit, they were stood up by their North Korean counterparts.
The surprise meeting between the North and South Korean leaders on Saturday, held in a village on the north side of their shared border, was to exchange opinions about holding a successful summit between Kim and President Trump, and on how to implement steps that Kim and Moon agreed to in their last meeting on April 27, the South Korean president’s office said.
It is unknown whether North Korea requested the meeting first, but sources told ABC News that it was arranged in the morning. Moon is expected to announce details of the meeting at a press conference on Sunday, according to his office.
At the meeting, Kim was with his sister, Kim Yo-jong, and his top aide, Kim Yong-chol, in charge of inter-Korean affairs. Moon was accompanied by South Korea’s national intelligence service chief, Suh Hoon.
The White House has not yet responded to a request for comment on Saturday’s meeting.
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