Trump says meeting with DPRK's Kim in Singapore on June 12

U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted on Thursday that his meeting with top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kim Jong Un, will be in Singapore on June 12.

"The highly anticipated meeting between Kim Jong Un and myself will take place in Singapore on June 12th," Trump wrote. "We will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!"

The remarks came on the heels of the DPRK's release of three detained U.S. citizens, who came back with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo early Thursday after his visit to Pyongyang in preparation for the Trump-Kim summit.

On April 30, Trump said that Singapore and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the DPRK and South Korea could be possible sites for his meeting with Kim.

The president on Wednesday ruled out the DMZ, a place he clearly preferred in his earlier tweets considering its symbolic implications.

U.S. analysts said Singapore won out for its neutrality.

While meeting with the three U.S. detainees at Joint Base Andrews, the U.S. state of Maryland, Trump said that his "proudest achievement will be ...when we denuclearize that entire peninsula. This is what people have been waiting for for a long time. Nobody thought we could be on this track in terms of the speed."

"Hopefully everything is going to work out at the highest level," he said, referring to his meeting with Kim. "We will see if we can do something that people did not think was going to happen for many, many years...we're starting off on a new footing."

When asked if he wanted to visit the DPRK one day, Trump said "it could happen."

Editor: John Li