Tensions over talks

North Korea denies US claims that pressure led to summit

WITH just weeks to go before President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are expected to hold their first-ever summit, Pyongyang yesterday criticised what it called “misleading” claims that Mr Trump’s policy of maximum political pressure and sanctions is what drove the North to the negotiating table.

The North’s official news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman warning the claims are a “dangerous attempt” to ruin a budding detente on the Korean Peninsula after Mr Kim’s summit late last month with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

At the summit, Mr Kim agreed to a number of measures aimed at improving North-South ties and indicated he was willing to discuss the denuclearisation of the peninsula.

Mr Trump and senior US officials have suggested repeatedly that Washington’s tough policy toward North Korea, along with pressure on its main trading partner China, have played a decisive role in turning around what had been an extremely tense situation.

The news comes as Singapore was yesterday identified as the likely location for the summit next month. Mr Trump said at the weekend the two sides had settled on a date and location for the summit, without providing details.

“We’ll be announcing it soon,” he said.

The landmark summit will take place in “mid June”, South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo daily reported yesterday, citing diplomatic sources who quoted Mr Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton.

The newspaper suggested that the possibility of Singapore hosting the landmark meeting had “increased greatly”.

Mr Bolton met his South Korean counterpart Chung Eui-yong in Washington late last week to discuss plans for both locations, according to local media reports.