White House: US Team Still May Head to Singapore to Work on Trump-Kim Summit

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - An US advance team led by Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin could still head to Singapore to prepare for the summit between the American and North Korean leaders that was canceled on Thursday, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters.

When asked if the advance team still planned to leave for Singapore today to work on the summit, Sanders said on Friday, "We’ll see. We’ve still got a few hours before that takes place."

Sanders added that the White House will be prepared if the meeting takes place on June 12.

Earlier on Friday, Trump told reporters his meeting with Kim could still take place in Singapore on June 12 even though he sent a letter to Kim on Thursday canceling the summit.

In his letter, Trump cited anger and hostility in recent statements by Kim as a reason for pulling out of the highly anticipated meeting.

In comments published by North Korea's state-run news agency KCNA, Kim said on Friday that he wanted the United States to know Pyongyang wants to sit down at "any time" to solve problems with Washington.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha in a phone conversation on Friday agreed to continue close partnership in building conditions for talks with North Korea, the Department of State said in a press release.

"They [Pompeo and Kang] committed to remaining closely coordinated in all of their efforts to create conditions for dialogue with North Korea," the release said.

The State Department the two officials reiterated the mutual goal of achieving a complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.