President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un plan to meet alone, with translators but initially without advisers, at the beginning of Tuesday's historic summit in Singapore, multiple news outlets are reporting.
Citing an unnamed U.S. official who asked not to be identified, The Associated Press reported early Monday that the two would "meet one-on-one, joined only by translators, for up to two hours before admitting their respective advisers" Tuesday morning in Singapore's time zone, which is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time. Bloomberg and USA Today published similar reports.
The meeting would come after a handshake between the pair at 9 a.m. SGT (9 p.m. EDT Monday), the AP reported.
Although the summit's original goal was the denuclearization of North Korea, "the talks have been portrayed by Trump in recent days more as a get-to-know meeting," the AP reported.
But the news that Trump and Kim planned to meet without advisers seemed to rattle some experts.
"Trump is simply not experienced enough or temperamentally inclined to handle the complexity of nuclear negotiations or issues as complex as those associated with the long history of the Koreas," Carnegie Endowment for International Peace visiting scholar David Rothkopf told USA Today, adding that it would be "best practice to have a witness" there.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a news conference Monday that Trump "is fully prepared" for the summit, according to USA Today.
"We are prepared to take what will be security assurances that are different, unique, than America's been willing to provide previously," he added, according to the AP.
About the Author
