US President Donald Trump has claimed that he would know within a minute of meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un whether his "one-time shot" at peace had a chance of succeeding.
He made the incredible remark just prior to departing from the G7 meeting in Canada for his lengthy journey to Singapore for the historic summit between the two heads of state, expressing confidence about his ability to judge Kim and boasting that contacts between their respective negotiating teams had been positive.
Asked how long it would take for him to work out if Kim was serious about striking some kind of peace deal, Trump replied, "I think within the first minute I'll know.”
He then proclaimed: "It's just my touch, my feel. That's what I do.”
"I think I'll know pretty quickly whether or not, in my opinion, something positive will happen,” he added. “And if I think it won't happen, I'm not going to waste my time. I don't want to waste his time."
"It's unknown territory in the truest sense but I really feel confident," the US president further stated as he prepared to leave the ongoing G7 summit in Canada early and head to Asia.
"I feel that Kim Jong-un wants to do something great for his people and he has that opportunity... It's a one-time shot," Trump asserted at a press conference, noting that the North Koreans had been working "very well with us."
"I am on a mission of peace and we're going to be carrying the hearts of millions of people from all over the world," the US president further claimed. "We have to get denuclearization, we have to get something going."
Trump and Kim will meet on Tuesday in the first ever US-North Korea summit in Singapore amid optimism on the US side that Pyongyang will scrap its nuclear weapons program in return for yet unclear security guarantees.
The summit between the two leaders will cap a remarkable turnaround in relations between two men who were exchanging angry insults less than six months ago.
After North Korea carried out a series of long-range missile tests that potentially put the US mainland in range of a nuclear strike, Trump promised to respond with "fire and fury".
He also ridiculed Kim in a speech at the UN General Assembly as "Little Rocket Man" who in turn called Trump a "dotard".