Singapore says Trump will return for state visit
President Donald Trump arrives at Paya Lebar Air Base for a summit with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un on Sunday, June 10, 2018, in Singapore. AP
SINGAPORE — President Donald Trump has accepted an invitation to return to Singapore for a state visit this fall.
That’s according to Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Trump is expected to travel to Asia in November in conjunction with a pair of regional summits.
The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the president’s fall plans.
A White House read-out of Trump’s meetings with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Monday did not include mention of a state visit.
Singapore will be hosting Trump’s summit Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Denuclearization
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the United States is prepared to take actions to provide North Korea with “sufficient certainty” that denuclearization “is not something that ends badly for them.”
Pompeo is briefing reporters in Singapore ahead of President Donald Trump’s summit Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He says the US is prepared to show North Korea that rather than denuclearization posing a threat to North Korea, it’s “the opposite.”
Pompeo won’t say whether Trump would consider withdrawing U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula.
Pompeo says that US sanctions on the North will remain in place until the North denuclearizes. But he says if diplomacy fails to move in the right direction, the sanctions “will increase.” /ee
