President Trump says his summit with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un will be held on June 12 in Singapore

President Donald Trump said Thursday his historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will take place June 12 in Singapore.

It would be the first meeting ever for a sitting U.S. president and the head of North Korea and a stunning turnaround in relations from last year, when the nations appeared to be on the brink of conflict.The president revealed the date and location for the meeting in a tweet Thursday morning.

Trump’s announcement came after weeks of hints and suggestions about when and where the two would meet.

Hours before his announcement, Trump welcomed home three Americans who had been imprisoned by North Korea. Pyongyang released them to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier this week.Singapore is a Southeast Asia independent city-state about four times the size of Washington.

Trump had previously floated the idea of holding the meeting in the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea. Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met in the DMZ last month..

“I think having the meeting Singapore makes sense for a number of reasons. First, having it along the DMZ was likely nixed as the photo ops would have been very similar and not conducive to something that would be fresh and different,” Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest, told CNBC. “Second, there is no way you could have this in China, as Chinese intelligence would listen to any sidebar conversations Kim and Trump might have.”

Source:CNBC