JAPAN/NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Thursday [6-7-18] said he doesn’t feel a need to prepare for his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, arguing that the delicate and high-stakes negotiations over denuclearization will be based more on ‘attitude’ than legwork. In extensive remarks during a visit from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump mused about what might come out of the Singapore summit scheduled for next week, telling reporters that he’s ‘totally’ prepared to walk away from the negotiating table, that he’s holding out hope for normalized relations with the repressive regime, that the U.S. could strike an agreement to formally end the Korean War, and that he could see hosting Kim in America if the meeting goes well. Despite his ambitious agenda, Trump also said he doesn’t feel the need to do much prep work…Even as Trump brushed off questions about his prep work ahead of the summit, his top diplomat, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, offered an assurance that the president would be ready for the talks with Kim.”
-Cristiano Lima and Louis Nelson, “Trump says Kim meeting will be about ‘attitude,’ not prep work,” Politico, June 7, 2018 4:25 pm