WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Monday that he will meet with Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s leader, in May or early June, setting a timetable for the historic summit between the US president and the mercurial North Korean strongman.

Last month, Trump accepted an invitation to meet with Kim after South Korean officials delivered the message that Kim was willing to discuss abandoning his nuclear weapons program. Over the weekend, US officials said they had received similar assurances directly from senior North Korean counterparts.

That appears to clear the way for talks between Trumpand Kim.

“We’ve been in touch with North Korea,’’ Trump said at the beginning of a Cabinet meeting at the White House. “Hopefully we will be able to make a deal on the denuking of North Korea. They’ve said so. We’ve said so. Hopefully it will be a relationship that’s much different than it’s been for many, many years.’’

Trump added: “We have a meeting that is being set up with North Korea, so that will be very exciting, I think, for the world.’’

It remains unclear whether North Korea would put conditions on its willingness to stop its nuclear program that would be unacceptable to the United States. And it is not certain that Trump would be able to secure the kind of verification that would be necessary to ensure that the North Koreans are abiding by any agreement.

NEW YORK TIMES