United States President Donald Trump’s first meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore will start tentatively at 9 am (6.30 am Indian time) on June 12, the White House said on Monday. A team from the White House is already in the Southeast Asian city-state to finalise preparations, and the local government has designated a part of the city as a “special event area”.

“We are actively preparing for the June 12 summit between the president and the North Korean leader,” White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said. “We feel like things are continuing to move forward, and good progress has been made.”

She said an “advance team” in Singapore was finalising logistical preparations and will remain in place until the summit begins. Trump is getting daily briefings from his national security team in the run-up to the meeting, Sanders added.

The Singapore government has designated a central region of the city as a special area from June 10 and June 14. Shangri-La hotel, located in the region, will be a possible venue for the June 12 summit, Reuters reported.

After much dilly-dally, Donald Trump on Friday said the summit will be held as scheduled, after holding talks with a senior North Korean envoy, General Kim Yong Chol, at the White House.

Both the US and North Korea have oscillated over holding the summit. On May 24, Trump called off the summit, blaming Pyongyang’s “tremendous anger” and “open hostility”. This came hours after North Korea announced it had dismantled its nuclear bomb test site in Punngye-ri. A day later, North Korea said it was still open to resolving problems with the US “at any time in any way”.