Singapore: The top US and North Korean negotiators held a last-ditch meeting in Singapore on Monday to try to narrow the gap between the two sides on what denuclearisation by North Korea should look like.

Whether they can arrive at a draft communique will likely determine whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump can make a deal at their meeting on Tuesday.

At 10am, North Korean vice-minister for foreign affairs, Choi Sun-hee, strode into the Ritz Carlton with her small team.

Around twenty minutes earlier, Trump’s top North Korea negotiator, ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, arrived with one adviser, smiling at a scrum of television cameras and reporters gathered outside the hotel.

Choi’s fiery outburst at Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, and Vice President Mike Pence a fortnight ago was blamed for Trump suddenly, and briefly, cancelling the summit.