Trump Says He’s Not Preparing For Summit With Kim Jong-Un, Thinks It’s More About ‘Attitude’

On Thursday, President Donald Trump told reporters he doesn’t think it’s necessary for him to prepare anything for his highly anticipated June 12 meeting with Kim Jong-Un in Singapore.

Trump Won’t Prepare For North Korea Summit

Trump said he believes a positive “attitude” and the determination to “get things done” will be more important when meeting with the North Korean leader to discuss the authoritarian regime’s potential denuclearization.

“I think I’m very well prepared,” Trump said. “I don’t think I have to prepare very much. It’s about attitude, it’s about willingness to get things done. So this isn’t a question of preparation, it’s a question of whether or not people want it to happen, and we’ll know that very quickly.”

The president added that the summit will “not be just a photo-op.”

Trump’s comments came during a visit from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the White House. According to Politico, the president’s administration has not organized a high-level National Security Council meeting to plan for the meeting with Kim. The White House announced on June 1 that the summit was back on, a week after saying it had been canceled due to discontent with the North Korean government’s growing verbal attacks on the Trump administration. A top North Korean official visited the White House last week. Earlier this spring, the country destroyed its only known nuclear test site.

Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump’s attorneys, made a bold claim about the summit at a conference in Israel on Wednesday when he said: “Kim Jong-Un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in.”

North Korean officials had threatened to pull out of the historic meeting due to a series of joint military drills the U.S. and South Korea had participated in. Kim’s regime were also angered by comments made by National Security Adviser John Bolton, a war hawk who suggested North Korea follow Libya’s model for denuclearization. Libya’s regime collapsed after an uprising, and its leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed and dragged through the streets by a group of rebels.

According to several reports, Trump will hope to convince Kim to significantly reduce North Korea’s nuclear program, in exchange for the U.S. promising to assure security and roll back economic sanctions, among other concessions.

Trump also stated this week that he is willing to possibly invite Kim to the White House at some point if the meeting between the two goes well.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also voiced optimism about the summit.

“I am very confident the president will be fully prepared when he meets with his North Korean counterpart,” said Pompeo.