Speaking in Singapore on Monday, President Donald Trump said he believed Tuesday's meeting with North Korea's Kim Jong Un "could work out very nicely."
"We've got a very interesting meeting in particular tomorrow, I think things could work out very nicely," he said during a bilateral meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who he thanked for the country's hosting of the event.
The wealthy island-nation is spending around $20 million Singapore dollars — mostly on security and logistics — to host Tuesday's historic summit, Lee confirmed this weekend.
Trump added that the milestone meeting "was a choice that we made very consciously."
The meeting is considered a diplomatic breakthrough given the hostility that's long existed between Pyongyang and Washington. And while concrete results aren't widely expected, a realistic goal is for both parties to agree to initial confidence-building measures that will narrow the massive trust deficit that currently exists between them, according to geopolitical analysts.
Trump also reaffirmed his continued commitment to engage the Asian region and accepted an official invitation to make a state visit to Singapore in November.
The U.S. leader, who arrived in the Southeast Asian nation on Sunday, is expected to return to his hotel — the Shangri-La, located in the shopping district of Orchard — later in the day and participate in a meet and greet with the U.S. embassy in the city-state.