Kim Jong Un is determined to make the US-North Korea summit go ahead

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By VT

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Over the past few months, US President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un have had the kind of on-again off-again relationship that makes Ross and Rachel's tumultuous Friends love affair look tame. One minute they're extending the hand of friendship, the next, they're slinging insults half way across the world and cancelling dates because of it.

So if you were having a hard time keeping up already, then the news that the much-anticipated summit between the US and North Korea might be back on after all is probably not going to help clarify things. After all, this is the same event that Trump said just last week it would be "inappropriate" to have and declared would not take place "for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world".

Due to be held on June 12 in Singapore - a location chosen for its neutrality - the summit would be the first time a sitting US president and a North Korean leader have met face-to-face. It would be a symbolic step in the efforts to restore diplomacy between the nuclear state, it's neighbour South Korea, and South Korea's ally, the USA.

Despite the cancellation, in a statement released via North Korea's state news agency KCNA, North Korea said that Kim had "his fixed will" on the meeting with President Trump going ahead as planned.

The statement came after a surprise meeting held between Kim and the South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Saturday, following which Moon said that the two had "agreed that the 12 June summit should be held successfully". Moon also said that Kim had once again re-affirmed "his commitment to a complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula".

Earlier in the week, North Korea invited foreign journalists to watch as the country demolished its Punggye-ri nuclear test site, which had been the location for all of its previous nuclear tests.

For his part Trump has also appeared to backtrack from the official stance of his own Administration, telling reporters that plans to meet the North Korean leader are "moving along very nicely" and that the date of June 12 "hasn't changed".

He later stated on Twitter: "We are having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the Summit which, if it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th., and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date."

In another sign that the White House are preparing for the talks to go ahead after all, an official spokesman has also confirmed that a team will leave for Singapore this weekend, as previously scheduled. This, he said, was in order to put everything in place in case they do occur.

Whether or not Trump's decision to cancel the summit was in fact all one big bluff, the political equivalent of playing hard to get, is yet to be seen. Either way, it certainly appears to be working, so let's just keep our fingers crossed that something good can come of this.