US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un want to convene for a second summit in late February. The site will be announced later, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Friday after a meeting between Trump and North Korea’s negotiator Kim Yong Chol in the White House. Vietnam had been the scene of conversation recently.
Trump had received Kim Yong Chol at the White House in Washington on Friday. Nothing is known yet about the concrete content of the approximately one and a half hour conversation. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo invited the negotiator and the North Korean delegation to lunch after the White House talks, the US State Department confirmed.
Trump and Kim first met in June 2018 at a historic summit in Singapore. There, the North Korean ruler emphasized his readiness for „complete denuclearization“. But concrete promises, until when North Korea wants to disarm its nuclear arsenal and what the counter-services of the United States could look like, have been missing so far.
Last meeting made little progress
The isolated Stalinist country calls for a relaxation of international sanctions. But Trump has made clear that he wants to stick to the policy of maximum pressure on North Korea for the time being. Recently, little progress had been made in the talks.
North Korea’s rulers had recently demonstrated its proximity to China. Kim was in Beijing last week where he had talks with President Xi Jinping. Although Kim’s visit to Beijing had been confirmed by the official authorities, he was otherwise surrounded by secrecy. Neither North Korea nor China gave details of the program.
According to South Korean news agency Yonhap, Kim talked with Xi for about an hour. Topic was the planned meeting of Kim with Trump. Later there was a dinner together with her wives. According to Yonhap, Kim also visited the factory of a medical company in Beijing. It is believed that he wanted to coordinate his strategy with the Chinese leadership. China is by far North Korea’s most important trading partner and is considered a lifeline for the country.
At the same time as the meeting in Washington, there are, according to media reports, high-level talks in Sweden, which should include, among others, North Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and the US-Korea Special Representative Stephen Biegun and the Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström. The Swedish Foreign Ministry confirmed the meeting. Sweden performs diplomatic tasks for the US in North Korea, as the US does not have diplomatic representation there.
South Korea welcomes appointment announcement
South Korea hopes that the planned second summit between the US and North Korea will mark a turning point in efforts to secure a lasting peace on the Korean peninsula. That said the spokesman of the office of President Moon Jae In on Saturday. South Korea wants to do its part to make Trump’s meeting with North Korea’s Kim a success and concrete one
Produce results.
The long-term goals remained the creation of a nuclear-free peninsula and a new peace system, the spokesman said. To achieve this, Seoul will continue to work closely with Washington and expand dialogue between the two Korean states. South Korea’s president played an important mediating role between Washington and Pyongyang last year.
