Historic US-North Korea summit: What to watch out for

Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore, in a historic summit between the two leaders.

The meeting will begin at 9am Singapore time, or 6.30 am IST. The meeting might be held at the Shangri-la hotel, CNBC reports.

This will be the first official visit between US and North Korea. It will also be the first time a member of the Kim family has met a sitting US president. Members of the family have met former US presidents, CNN reports.

Preparations for the summit  have begun in full swing.

It is widely expected that US sanctions on North Korea, and the latter's nuclear programme will be on top of the agenda.

The US yesterday reiterated its "maximum pressure policy", that lifting of sanctions is conditional on North Korea's denuclearising.

"We have sanctions on, they are very powerful and we would not take those sanctions off unless North Korea denuclearised," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said, as quoted by the BBC.

A formal end to the Korean war could also be discussed, BBCreports, citing analysts.

The fighting in the 1950-1953 war between North and South Korea had concluded with a truce, not a peace treaty.

There are also a few subjects Trump and Kim Jong Un will probably not discuss.

Allegations of human rights violations, freedom of media and total government control in North Korea are issues that will likely be sidelined at the summit, BBC reports.