The date and location for a forthcoming summit between the leaders of the United States and North Korea have been confirmed, Donald Trump said on Friday, though he declined to give further details.
Speaking on his way to the National Rifle Association annual meeting in Dallas, the US president predicted that "a lot of good things are going to be happening over the next short period of time" in relation to North Korea. "It's going to be very exciting."
Mr Trump said negotiations were continuing at the highest level between North Korea and the US in preparation for the summit.
But the White House hit back at reports in the New York Times that the administration directed the Pentagon to consider reducing American troop numbers in South Korea, with national security adviser John Bolton dismissing the report as "nonsense". Asked about the issue before he boarded Air Force One, Mr Trump said that troops are "not on the table" but he added: "At some point into the future, I would like to save the money. You know, we have 32,000 troops there."
American detainees
His comments came amid continuing speculation about the plight of three American detainees being held in North Korea. One of the president's lawyers, Rudy Giuliani, told Fox News on Thursday that the detainees would be released by the end of the day, but this did not unfold.
Asked about the detainees on Friday, Mr Trump said the US was “doing very well” in relation to the hostages. “We’re in constant contact with the leadership. We are in constant contact with North Korea. We’ve actually worked out a time and a place which will be announced shortly and very soon.”
As the White House planned for the upcoming summit with North Korea and to decide about its continued participation in the Iran nuclear deal by the end of next week, the Trump administration continued to battle ongoing domestic controversies over the Robert Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the payment of money to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Addressing the NRA conference in Dallas, Mr Trump emphasised the need for Republicans to get out and vote in the mid-term elections in November. “We’ve got to get Republicans elected, we’ve got to do great in 2018,” he said. Noting that America needed judges that would “uphold our way of life”, he said that, since his election, he had appointed federal judges who “interpret the law as written”.
