President Donald Trump taunted on Monday critics who accused him of kowtowing to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hours before meeting him in Singapore.
The fact that I am having a meeting is a major loss for the U.S., say the haters & losers. We have our hostages, testing, research and all missle launches have stoped, and these pundits, who have called me wrong from the beginning, have nothing else they can say! We will be fine!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2018
Trump will meet the North Korean leader Tuesday morning in Singapore in a bid to convince Kim Jong Un to abandon his nuclear program in exchange for economic assistance. The president will face off with Kim for approximately 45 minutes in a one-on-one discussion before being joined by his aides.
Trump has long maintained that he has given up very little to North Korea in exchange for the summit. His critics claim that simply meeting with Kim Jong Un grants him the legitimacy he craves on the world stage. The president in his tweet pointed to the cessation of missile tests and the release of three American hostages as positive things for the U.S. he gained without lifting economic sanctions.
Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have declared that no U.S. economic sanctions on North Korea will lift until concrete steps are taken by the regime to denuclearize.