US calls Xi-Kim meeting ‘historic step in the right direction’

The US on Wednesday hailed the positive developments on the Korean Peninsula issue, after the just-concluded visit to China by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kim paid an unofficial visit to China from Sunday to Wednesday.

US President Donald Trump tweeted later that there is a good chance that Kim will do “what is right for his people and for humanity.”

“For years and through many administrations, everyone said that peace and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was not even a small possibility,” Trump said, adding that he looks forward to his meeting with Kim.

Trump noted that he had received a message from Xi that his meeting with Kim went very well.

US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said later on Twitter that Kim’s visit to China was “an unprecedented, historic step in the right direction.”

White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders also said on Wednesday in a press briefing that “significant progress” has been made on Korean Peninsula issue, and that “things are moving in the right direction.”

United Nations SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres on Wednesday also welcomed the meeting between Xi and Kim.

“He (Guterres) views the latest positive developments as the start of a longer process of sincere dialogue, leading to sustainable peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula,” said Farhan Haq, Guterres’ deputy spokesperson, in a statement.