Today, the Singapore summit is on. That it is indeed apparently happening now is only the result of a remarkable set of circumstances that are allowing for the first meeting of the leaders of North Korea and the United States — events that contrived on Friday and Saturday to have it cancelled, then “uncancelled” again. So, what are we to make of this chain of events that have President Donald Trump and Kim Jung-un meeting once more in a little over two weeks’ time?

The abrupt cancellation by President Trump certainly suggested as if the language used by Pyongyang’s vice-minister for foreign affairs was to blame, with Washington saying the threats contained in a letter were, to use the vernacular, over the top.

But with officials working hard behind the scenes to organise every detail of the June 12 meeting — and those that inevitably precede such events — with the stakes so high, perhaps the Trump administration delivered to Pyongyang a dose of its own medicine of brinkmanship.

Certainly, Kim — and his father before him — have proven themselves capable of shaping events by whatever means at their disposal to further the goals of their paranoid neo-Stalinist regime.

This brief cancellation did, however, result in a further meeting at the De-Militarised Zone between Kim and President Moon Jae-in of South Korea.

That this meeting took place is extraordinary, and that it is the second such meeting between the two in the past month shows just how quickly events are moving on the Korean peninsula — and just how fluid those events are.

Clearly, because of the trust built up between the two Korean leaders, there seems to some sort of understanding how the pair will proceed with ending the hostilities and state of war that has lasted for 65 years since the end of the Korean conflict — and that is a positive.

What is also in the plus column too is that Kim has made two separate trips to China to meet with President Xi Jinping, and Beijing seems now to have regained or is rebuilding its previously influential position over the leadership in Pyongyang.

The events of the weekend clearly show that there is a lack of trust between Washington and Pyongyang — and that should hardly seem surprising.

Last autumn, it seemed as if a full-blown military conflict — and an exchange of missiles — was imminent. Now, both are exchanging missives — and that is a very welcome development indeed.