Taillight could have saved one womans life but led police to a house of horrors. Im jim sciutto in for jake. We begin with breaking news in our world. We have a summit. President trump just moments ago announcing that he will meet with north korea dictator kim jongun in singapore on june 12th adding, though, it may take a series of gettoknowyou meetings between the two men but ultimately he believes it will be a successful negotiation and that he thinks north korea is committed to denuclearizing. Were not going to go in and sign something on june 12th and we never were. Were going to start a process. And i told him today, take your time, we can go fast, we can go slowly. It comes just about an hour and 20 minute long meeting with Kim Yong Chol, in which he delivered a handwritten letter to mr. Trump directly from kim jongun. And that letter was a very nice letter. Oh, would you like to see what was in that letter. It was a very interesting letter. And yet the president minutes after saying those very words there admitted that he never read the letter. I havent seen the letter yet. I purposely didnt open the letter. I havent opened it. I may be in for a big surprise, folks. A confusing moment there. We have this story covered from all angles including from cnns will ripley in singapore where the summit will take place in 11 days. But elise labott is joining me first. North korea admitted to nothing on this key issue of denuclearizing and yet secured the firstever meeting with a u. S. President , which is something north korea has sought for decades. Reporter thats right, jim. The president and his aides have realized a nuclear deal they wanted on june 12th was not in the offing. Still the president saw enough good will from north korea to meet in just over a week to get to know kim jongun and what he now calls the beginning of a process. President trump and Kim Yong Chol emerged from the oval office smiling after nearly a twohour meeting, trump telling reporters a summit with north Korean Leader kim jongun in singapore is back on. Were going to meet june 12th. Well be in singapore. It will be a beginning. Ive never said it happens in one meeting. Youre talking about years of hostility, years of problems, years of really hatred between so many different nations. Reporter Kim Yong Chol arrived at the white house earlier hand delivering a letter to President Trump from kim jongun. I havent seen the letter yet. I purposely didnt open the letter. I havent opened it. I didnt open it in front of the director. I said would you want me to open it . He said you can read it later. Reporter well, there was no Firm Commitment from north korea on denuclearization, a top demand for trump, but the president said the meeting was still worth having. I think its going to be a process that we deserve to have. I mean, we really deserve. They want it. We think its important. And i think we would be making a big mistake if we didnt have it. Reporter but the president said he was prepared if the talks with kim in singapore are not productive. One thing i did do, and it was very important, we had hundreds of new sanctions ready to go on, and he did not the director did not ask, but i said im not going to put them on until such time as the talks break down. We have very significant sanctions, but we have hundreds that are ready to go. But i said im not going to why would i do that when were talking so nicely . Reporter a word of warning earlier today from the top senate republican. If youve followed it and its too important for you to get it and the details become less significant, you could get snookered. So, elise, we saw the president in effect downgrade expectations for this june 12th summit. In his own words he called it a get to know you meeting. What are our expectations as to what the takeaways will be from this summit . Reporter well, jim, obviously, as he said the beginning to after relationship, but i think its still possible there could be some small deliverables at this summit such as kind of memorializing what theyve already agreed to, which is kim jongun would continue to have a moratorium on testing. They could agree to further negotiations, access to some nuclear sites. I think now instead of the kind of historic thing theyve never had before, now theyll be looking for some kind of show of good faith that north korea is committed to going down this road and isnt going to, as Mitch Mcconnell said, snooker the United States, which is what the president had accused president obama of doing with the iran deal. So maybe this lowers the pressure for President Trump to try and get something done. Elise labott in go to will re if singapore where in just over a week that meeting between trump and kim will take place. Will, you cover the Korean Peninsula a lot. What is the reaction in asia to the news that the summit is back on . Reporter oh, obviously its not a huge surprise to people on the ground in singapore, jim. Shortly after i landed i met with u. S. Lawmakers who are here who essentially told me a number of hours ago that the summit was back on, it just hadnt been officially announced yet. Teams from the United States and north korea are on the ground here now doing everything from scouting out locations to finalizing details about how the summit is going to work logistically. Yet some of the people who may be most surprised are actually the citizens who live in singapore. I mentioned to a number of people next weekend ill be here covering it. And they said what are you covering . And i say the summit. And they say wasnt that cancelled . Even though some are calling this the summit of the century, the people that live here, its not at the top of their minds. Youve been in north korea a number of times. You were back there a couple of weeks ago. The president seems hopeful that there is Something Different about north koreas approach to the negotiations this time. Speaking to north korean officials, do you get a sense that this time is different . When i left north korea last week, jim, i definitely had a sense that they are serious about making negotiations, making discussions with the United States happen. And the fact, by the way, that a letter was delivered to President Trump from kim jongun himself thafsh himself, thats highly significant because a letter is considered the highest form of communication in north korea. There is no greater sign of respect than sending an official letter from the Supreme Leader of the country to the leader of another country. So i think that does mean that North Koreans mean business and well see what happens in singapore. Will ripley in singapore. Joining me now is the former director of the cia and the nsa, retired fourstar general michael hayden. Thanks very much. You have negotiated facetoface with north korea on the peninsula. I have. What struck me, north korea based on the president s own comments, has not made any commitment yet to do anything, denucleari denuclearize. Theyve released hostages but on the nuclear issue, is the summit already a win for north korea . Oh, it is. Look, you asked what was different. What was different now compared to the last two times weve tried this is that north korea is now an internationally recognized nuclear power. All right . And so kim is going to the meeting with what he believes to be a very strong hand. So i think thats why the North Koreans are showing up. Theyre going to go see what it is they can get from this newfound status. So the president , interestingly, he downgraded expectations for at least this first meeting, in fact said this is going to be a series of meetings, the first might be a get to know you and no promises about deliverable from that meeting. Is it possible that that means were now back on a more conventional negotiations course here . Oh, yes. And thank god, because i had a great fear that the president had built up such expectations that he was going to demand things from kim, and, you know, one of the dangers when you start at the head of state level, when the wheels fly off, youve got nowhere else to go, and so that could have led into a very dark situation. But i was heartened to see the president talk about get acquainted, set the conditions for success, begin a longterm process, multiple meetings. I think thats right. Now, you cant have an indefinite shot clock here because the North Koreans are very, very good at running out the clock and not changing anything. But im heartened now that were not going in there with a zerosum approach to talking to the North Koreans. It struck me that two days in a row you had the president say today i think that north korea wants to denuclearize. You had mike pompeo, the secretary of state, say yesterday after a meeting with his north korean counterpart in new york, that he thinks they are contemplating denuclearizing. Thats not quite an expression of confidence. Its not. Weve alwaysed th ed thahad a d what does that mean to the North Koreans . The best i can give you, at the end of a very long process, when the geostrategic position has changed, pyongyang will consider whether or not they need these won weapons or as many of these weapons, which is different from the immediate destruction of the weapons force. Do you or anyone with experience on the Korean Peninsula, current or former in the intelligence community, believe that north korea will give up its entire arsenal, walk away after all these years of seeking these weapons, which it views as essential to its survival . In my heart of hearts, no. And thats based on the creation mythology of north korea, the historic experience of north korea, and the Life Experience of the kim family. Thats all working in the direction of preserving some sort of Nuclear Option just for regime and in this case regime survival is the same as personal survival. Let me ask you this. You have a few years in the intelligence business. You just had north koreas former top spy im sure he hasnt take than hat off in his current role he sat in the oval office for 80 minutes observing the president , the president and his advisers, the room. Did he learn something . Oh, sure. First, i need to caveat this. Ive had to talk to a lot of distasteful people in my career. I hope im not on that list. And so, you know, ive talked to convicted war criminals, rocco modic, to the head of the libyan service affiliated with the lockerbie bombing. I understand why we had to do this, but, yeah, hell make a trip report, size up the president. What i think hes really going to do is note who around the room did the president allow to participate, who among the americans did the president listen to and defer to and allow to make some of the case . Who in the room seemed to know the most about what it is theyre talking about . And hell bring that back to the dear leader. Now back to the dear leader, 2018 will be a remarkable year for him. Hell meet with the u. S. President. He has commitment to meet with the russian president. Hes met with the chinese president. I have to assume theyll meet again. They want to be involved in this process. Its a remarkable ascent in status on the world stage for north Korean Leaders who crave that status. It is. And theres an arc here that you have to give kim, the youngest, some credit here. He really did accelerate the rate of weapons and icbms. President trump is going to the meeting with the belief hes in a good position because of the crippling sanctions, all right . You realize during those same 16 months kim jongun sprinted to this Nuclear Status so hes probably going to the meeting thinking hes in a strong position because of what he has achieved. So well see how the dynamics work. Well be watching closely. General hayden, thanks very much for your analysis. News in to cnn. A white house official tells cnn that the president has now read that letter from kim jongun that was delivered to him today. Earlier you may remember the president told reporters he had not read it despite just moments before that calling it a very interesting, very nice letter. We are keeping track. My Political Panel is with me here right now. So, remarkable events today. We have to remind ourselves today a week ago this summit was off. It is back on with confidence now, it appears. Crystal, is that already to some degree a political win for the president . 11 days is 11 days with donald trump, so, i mean, i hesitate to make predictions solely because, as you point out, jim, a week ago we were talking about the letter and how it was off. If he gets to the summit, if he arrives in singapore and the summit happens, yes, i think the visuals of that at some level are a win for him and, to give him credit, it would be a historic credit on its face, an american president sating down facetoface with a north Korean Leader. What comes of it, how engaged people are on these foreign policy, Global Politics of north korea and the Korean Peninsula im not totally sure. But that visual he wants, quite clearly. And i think if he gets it, yes, it would be a win. Jennifer, do you see a win for the president . I think that that could be a positive development for him, maybe eve an win. Im with general hayden that im pleased to see the president take it down a notch with expectations. Assuming he doesnt go in, making a broad assumption, making a deal where were not in a situation where we have to be concerned about him giving away too much. I think president s should have the room to do summits that dont have a lot of news or developments come out of them. I think just having the discussion in and of itself is a positive thing and you should give them the room to do it and not build up this need that you have to have a win, you know, something specific to come out of it because just, you know, engagement is a worthy thing. We did that during soviet times. Better to keep talking than increasing the risk of shooting each other, which was a real risk earlier this year. Chris, it was noticeable today to see the Gop Senate LeaderMitch Mcconnell issue something of a warning to the president , dont get snookered by kim. Weve heard that from some democrats. Interesting to hear it from a republican. As a republican at this table, im probably the most critical of what ive seen happen today. The fact that you had someone from the highest levels of the north korean government be able to spend that much time in the oval office of the president of the United States, its one thing to have folks from north korea coming over, interfacing with folks from our state department, getting touch with folks in our government to prepare for the summit, doing things in the conventional way, thats fine. Thats good. But its a symbol when you get to sit down with the president. We have not talked about the human rights and the experience of the people in north korea. The president said he did not mention human rights. And i worry were going to go into this summit and looking for this political win and if north korea is not giving up Nuclear Weapons and not doing anything to improve the status of the people in north korea, i dont want us to get had because i think the thing north korea wants is the prestige of sitting down with the president of the United States and theyre getting it no matter what comes out of the process. And this is a president whos been willing to bury, shall we say, the human rights issue with other World Leaders. Had this been a democratic president , i cant help but think republicans would have been outraged at a lot of the things that have happened in the past 24 hours. It makes me nervous. We talk about will this be a political win for President Trump, this summit, its definitely a political win for kim jongun to kristens point on the same stage, equal with the president of the United States. No question. Thats a guarantee. More coming up. Its the economy, stupid, right . 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