Progress hailed on Kim-Trump summit
Beijing said it welcomes the progress made by Washington and Pyongyang in setting up the upcoming summit meeting and expects it to contribute to denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and regional peace.
“We expect the meeting to obtain positive outcomes and make an important step in promoting denuclearization on the peninsula, finding a political solution to the peninsula issue and accomplishing long-term peace in the region,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Friday.
US President Donald Trump announced on Twitter on Thursday that he will meet with Kim Jong-un, top leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, in Singapore on June 12, envisioning “a very special moment for world peace”.
He made the announcement hours after going to Joint Base Andrews outside
Washington, DC, to greet three US citizens who had returned to the US after being released by the DPRK.
Trump said in late April that Singapore and the Demilitarized Zone on the Korean Pen- insula could be where he would meet with Kim, but on Wednesday he ruled out the Demilitarized Zone.
Da Zhigang, a researcher of northeast Asian studies at the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said Singapore was probably chosen for a number of reasons, including its “cautious” and “neutral” stance on the Korean Peninsula issue.
The DPRK has an embassy in Singapore, a country that also enjoys close ties with the US, Da said, adding that the Southeast Asian island has good capacity for accommodating such international meetings.
Trump’s announcement came days after a meeting between Kim and President Xi Jinping was held in Dalian, Liaoning province, in Northeast China.
In his meeting with Xi, Kim said that as long as relevant parties abolish hostile policies and remove security threats against the DPRK, there is no need for the DPRK to be a nuclear state and denuclearization can be realized.
Kim also expressed the hope that the DPRK and the US would build mutual trust through dialogue and relevant sides would take measures in a responsible manner to comprehensively advance the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue and eventually achieve denuclearization and lasting peace on the peninsula.
Da said it is likely that the summit between Washington and Pyongyang will conclude with agreements to improve bilateral ties, but he expressed caution about their talks over denuclearization.
It’s impossible for the nuclear issue on the peninsula to be solved overnight, Da said, adding that Pyongyang needs to show concrete steps in denuclearization, while the US should show patience and take into consideration Pyongyang’s reasonable security concerns.