The Yomiuri Shimbun

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe welcomed the decision to hold talks between U.S.
President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore,
while expressing his expectation for progress on the issue of Japanese citizens
abducted by North Korea and other issues.

�gI welcome the official selection of a date and location for the summit,�h Abe
told reporters in Sapporo. �gI strongly expect the historic U.S.-North Korea summit
to be an opportunity for moving forward on the nuclear and missile issue as well as
on the abduction issue, which is of the greatest importance.�h

�gFurther preparations will be made going forward. I would like to convey Japan�fs
views to the U.S. government and work on preparations together with the United
States,�h Abe added.

Foreign Minister Taro Kono said at the House of Representatives Foreign Committee
on Friday morning, �gThe international community has the position of calling for
the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of weapons of mass
destruction, such as nuclear arms, and ballistic missiles.�h

�gI hope that President Trump will firmly negotiate with North Korea on behalf of
the international community,�h Kono added, expressing his expectation that progress
will be made on the nuclear and missile issue at the anticipated summit.

The government has a positive view on holding the summit talks in Singapore because
of its neutrality, according to diplomatic sources. �gPrior to the official
announcement, the U.S. side informed the Japanese government of the date of the
summit,�h a government source said.

Abe hopes to hold a meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the Group of Seven
summit to be held on June 8 and 9 in Charlevoix, Canada, just before the U.S.-North
Korea conference.

At the meeting with Trump, the prime minister intends to reach a common
understanding with the U.S. president on how to handle the nuclear and missile
issue and again request that he raise the abduction issue. �gThis will be the best
time for coordinating opinions between Japan and the United States before the U.S.-
North Korea summit,�h a senior Foreign Ministry official said.

AFP-Jiji
WASHINGTON (AFP-Jiji) ? U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday revealed his
historic summit with Kim Jong Un ? the first-ever between a sitting U.S. president
and a North Korean leader ? will take place in Singapore on June 12.

The location and date of the landmark meeting were announced in a presidential
tweet just hours after Trump welcomed to the United States three American prisoners
released by Pyongyang.

�gWe will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!�h Trump wrote.

The talks, which are expected to last one day, are set to focus on North Korea�fs
rapidly advancing nuclear and ballistic weapons programs.

�gI think it will be a big success,�h Trump said as he boarded Air Force One, on
his way to a political rally in Indiana.

U.S. officials said the release of Americans Kim Hak Song, Tony Kim and Kim Dong
Chul removed a major obstacle to the summit, providing Trump with some tangible
evidence that his twin-track policy of engagement and �gmaximum pressure�h was
working.

�gWe�fre not under any illusions about who these people are. We know who we are
dealing with here,�h said Victoria Coates, of the National Security Council.

�gBut we got, up front, our people home.�h

The United States and North Korea are technically still at war ? a stop-gap
armistice ended the brutal three-year Korean War in 1953 and around 30,000 U.S.
troops remain in neighboring South Korea, which the United States supported in the
conflict.

Singapore will provide a neutral backdrop for the summit, avoiding some of the
security and political challenges associated with a meeting in the demilitarized
zone that separates North and South Korea.

The Southeast Asia city state has long acted as a bridge between the United States
and China, with successive prime ministers offering Oval Office occupants their
cherished geopolitical counsel.

When Trump and Kim do sit down a month from now, the two relatively untested
leaders will be presented with a puzzle that has stymied seasoned diplomats for
decades.

A series of U.S. administrations have sent envoys, both official and unofficial, to
Pyongyang in the hope of stopping North Korea�fs provocative nuclear weapons
program.

Former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter visited after leaving office,
multiple rounds of nonproliferation talks have taken place, and a deal was even
signed in 1994.

But despite the optimism of that moment, all efforts to limit North Korea�fs
nuclear program have, to date, failed. And more than two decades and multiple
provocative weapons tests after the last accord, the threat from Pyongyang has only
grown.

The country is now believed to be on the cusp of developing an intercontinental

ballistic missile that could deliver a nuclear warhead to the U.S. mainland.

Trump has vowed that he will not let that happen and has demanded that North Korea
give up its nukes.

So far, the North Korean regime has made vague pledges to �gdenuclearize�h but has
not spelled out what that means, when it would happen or how it would be
implemented.

In North Korea�fs bombastic rhetoric, �gdenuclearization�h has, for years, been a

byword for U.S. troop withdrawals from South Korea and an excuse for stalling.

Hardliners in North Korea are believed to see possession of a nuclear weapon as the
only guarantee against U.S.-led efforts to topple Kim�fs regime.

Coates said there were no preconditions for the talks, which could yet include
other regional leaders such as the South Korean president, but concrete steps would
be welcome