An “antsy and bored” Donald Trump reportedly attempted to bring his summit with Kim Jong-un of North Korea forward by a day, asking aides after his arrival in Singapore on Sunday: “We’re here now. Why can’t we just do it?”
Related: Donald Trump shrugs off Kim's human rights record: 'He's a tough guy'
The one-day summit, aimed at reducing the threat from nuclear-armed North Korea, went ahead as planned on Tuesday.
But on Friday, citing two people “familiar with preparations for the event”, the Washington Post said the president’s impatience and a “tense” staff meeting with North Korean officials left “left some aides fearful that the entire summit might be in peril”.
Citing “people familiar with the talks”, the Post report said: “Ultimately, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders persuaded Trump to stick with the original plan, arguing that the president and his team could use the time to prepare.”
“They also,” the Post said, “warned him that he might sacrifice wall-to-wall television coverage of his summit if he abruptly moved the long-planned date to Monday in Singapore, which would be Sunday night in the United States.”
Trump’s preparation for the event was long a point of contention. In May, after North Korea criticised his vice-president, Mike Pence, Trump said the summit was cancelled. He later said his approach to the meeting was not about preparation, but “about attitude”.
He then told a press conference in Canada before travelling to Singapore he would know “within the first minute” if the summit would be a success, thanks to “just my touch, my feel”.
After meeting Kim, he told reporters he and the dictator “got to know each other well in a very confined period of time. I know when somebody wants to deal and I know when somebody doesn’t”.
The substance of the summit has been widely criticised, in most part for the failure to secure written commitment to North Korean denuclearisation, which the Trump administration had repeatedly demanded.
Trump also signalled a major concession to Pyongyang when he said he would cancel US-South Korean military exercises – to the surprise of South Korea and the US defense department.
Footage of the president saluting a North Korean general has also been widely criticised, as has a video produced by the National Security Council to appeal to Kim and Trump’s apparent dismissal of human rights concerns pertaining to the North Korean regime.
The US president repeatedly praised the North Korean leader for being “tough”.