WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump said his on-again, off-again summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will proceed in Singapore on June 12 as initially planned, another dramatic turn in a diplomatic saga that has veered from threats of nuclear showdown to talk about peace over a matter of days.
Mr. Trump’s reversal on Friday followed an extraordinary Oval Office meeting with North Korean Gen. Kim Yong Chol, one of Mr. Kim’s top lieutenants and a former spymaster who has been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for his role in cyberattacks against American companies. Gen. Kim received a special exemption from the sanctions to travel to Washington to hand-deliver a letter to Mr. Trump.
The letter, from Kim Jong Un, expresses the North Korean leader’s interest in meeting Mr. Trump without making any significant concessions or threats, according to a foreign government official briefed on the contents.
Speaking to reporters outside the Oval Office after Gen. Kim’s departure, Mr. Trump described the letter as “very nice” and “very interesting.” He acknowledged a few minutes afterward that he hadn’t yet read the message.