Trump: N. Korea Will Be a 'Great Economic Nation'

A US team is in North Korea to plan a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, according to President Trump, raising expectations that the on-off-on meeting will indeed take place. Both the State Department and South Korea's Foreign Ministry said the American and North Korean officials have been engaged in talks at the Korean village of Panmunjom, which straddles the border inside the Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ. One can cross the border simply by stepping across a painted line, but moving beyond several footsteps into the North at Panmunjom would be rare for US officials, the AP reports.

Trump withdrew from a planned June 12 Singapore summit with Kim last Thursday, but quickly announced it could still happen. His tweet Sunday afternoon, which offered praise for the longtime US adversary, was the latest signal that his concerns about the North's stance toward the summit had been allayed. "Our United States team has arrived in North Korea to make arrangements for the Summit between Kim Jong Un and myself," he tweeted. "I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial Nation one day. Kim Jong Un agrees with me on this. It will happen!" (Kim met South Korea's President Moon Jae-in for a surprise summit in Panmunjom Saturday.)