President Trump on Thursday said he does not have to prepare “very much” for his high-stakes summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un because he believes “it’s about attitude.”
“I think I’m very well prepared,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “I don’t think I have to prepare very much. It’s about attitude. It’s about willingness to get things done.”
{mosads}The president said the scheduled June 12 summit with Kim in Singapore will be “much more than a photo op,” predicting it will be both “fruitful” and “exciting.”
He also suggested he could host a second round of talks with the North Korean leader to discuss his nuclear program.
Trump previewed the terms he would set for a nuclear agreement with Kim, a prospect that has eluded several past presidents.
“They have to denuke, if they don’t denuclearize, that will not be acceptable,” he said. “We cannot take sanctions off — the sanctions are extraordinarily powerful. And I could add a lot more, but I’ve chosen not to do that at this time.”
Abe’s government requested the meeting with Trump so they could formulate a unified strategy and raise concerns about the summit, including the issue of North Korea’s ballistic missile program and its abduction of Japanese citizens.
National security experts have voiced worry about Trump’s level of preparation for the summit, saying he could be put on the defensive in the meeting room with Kim.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has led planning the summit and told reporters later that Trump receives “daily briefings” from his national security team ahead of the talks. But national security adviser John Bolton’s role has reportedly been limited and it is unclear how much other advice Trump has solicited.
“I am very confident the president will be fully prepared when he meets with his North Korean counterpart,” said Pompeo.
In order to prepare for a series of meetings in the late 1980s with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, former President Reagan met daily with his national security adviser and also huddled regularly with his secretaries of State and Defense.
Reagan’s staff also supplied him with books, briefings papers, personality profiles, videotapes and Russian movies, according to The Associated Press.
Updated at 3:57 p.m.