8:32 p.m. EDT / 8:32 a.m. Singapore: Summit starts after a different testy meeting with world leaders
Trump landed in Singapore after taking off not from Washington but from Quebec, Canada, where he had been participating in the G-7 conference and left with a parting shot at a longtime ally.
The G-7 conference ended with Trump publicly criticizing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over actions Trump perceived to be “dishonest and weak.”
In spite of the tensions caused over tariffs, which you can read about here, Trump remained optimistic about the upcoming summit with Kim Jong Un.
“I really feel confident. I feel that Kim Jong Un wants to do something great for his people and he has that opportunity and he won’t have that opportunity again,” Trump said at a news briefing before leaving Quebec.
“I think within the first minute I’ll know” if North Korea is serious about a deal, said the president, who then touted his dealmaking abilities. “Just my touch, my feel. That’s what I do.”
8:12 p.m. EDT / 8:12 a.m. Singapore: Taking a look at the different arrivals
The optics of arrivals were on full display in Singapore on Sunday.
Kim was the first of the two headlining world leaders to arrive, landing in Singapore just before 3:00 p.m. local time (which is 12 hours ahead of Washington and EDT).
Kim landed at Singapore Changi International Airport and was greeted by Singapore’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan.
Balakrishnan shared official photos of a smiling Kim deplaning from the Air China jet and shaking hands. Kim’s entourage flew to Singapore on three jets: the first carried vehicles and supplies; the second, an Air China Boeing 747 used for high-level officials, carried Kim; and a third, Kim’s personal jet, carried his sister Kim Yo Jong.
Read more about Kim’s arrival here, from ABC News’ Mark Osborne and Joohee Cho.
Roughly five hours later, at 8:21 p.m. local time, Trump made his grand entrance, walking off of Air Force One alone while wearing a dark suit and a bright blue tie.
He too was greeted by Singaporean Foreign Minister Balakrishnan.
Asked by reporters how he was feeling, Trump said, “very good” before getting into his presidential limousine and departing the airport for the Shangri-La Hotel, where he and his entourage will stay.
7: 15 p.m. EDT / 7: 15 a.m. Singapore: Kicking off the live blog
It’s Monday morning now in Singapore – where it’s 12 hours ahead of Washington/East Coast time. And in a little more than 24 hours, President Donald Trump is slated to sit down with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a high-stakes meeting between leaders of two nations with a history of tension and threats over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.
That meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday in Singapore, which will be Monday night for the U.S. We haven’t been told much about the first face-to-face meeting between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader but may get more as the summit gets closer.
ABC’s Jordyn Phelps reports from Singapore:
The White House has yet to put out an official schedule of the president’s meetings with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, but two meetings are expected.
Following Trump and Kim’s choreographed first handshake, there is expected to be an initial meeting of a very small group of people. The meeting could even be as intimate as a direct one-on-one between Trump and Kim, with only their translators in attendance. At most, Secretary of State of Pompeo will accompany President Trump in this first encounter.
There will then be a second expanded bilateral meeting at which the fuller U.S. and North Korean delegations are expected to be present.
Both Trump and Kim arrived earlier Sunday and are staying in hotels less than half a mile apart.
The White House says that on the flight to Singapore the president spent time meeting with his staff, reading materials and preparing for his meeting with Kim. Joining him are Pompeo, National Security Advisor John Bolton and chief of staff John Kelly and National Security Advisor John Bolton. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders is on the trip as well and we can expect to hear from her at some point.
Kim, meanwhile, arrived in Singapore with his younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, and Kim Yong Chol, the senior adviser who visited Trump at the White to hand-deliver a letter from Kim a little more than a week ago when the summit was still in doubt about Trump abruptly canceled it.
Check back here for live updates on the historic U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore.
