NORTH KOREA FOREIGN MINISTER MEETS SWEDISH PM

STOCKHOLM: North Korea’s foreign minister held talks in Stockholm with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven on Friday amid reports Sweden could play a role in setting up a proposed summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

“They had a meeting. We will not disclose what they talked about,” Lofven’s spokesman Jonatan Holst told AFP.

Ri Yong Ho arrived in the Swedish capital on Thursday evening with Choe Kang Il, deputy director general of the foreign ministry’s North America section.

Ri held talks on Thursday and Friday with his Swedish counterpart Margot Wallstrom, discussions which according to Swedish officials were to focus on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and a possible TrumpKim summit.

No public statement from Ri or Wallstrom was expected after the conclusion of the talks on Friday evening, but the foreign ministry said it would publish a statement.

Some Swedish and foreign media have said Ri will stay in the Scandinavian country until Sunday for other talks, though Swedish officials would not confirm those reports.

Sweden has longstanding ties with North Korea. Its diplomatic mission in Pyongyang, which opened in 1975, was the first Western embassy established in the country. International media have speculated that Sweden could either help set up a proposed summit, or be a potential location if a tete-a-tete were to be confirmed. Sweden’s foreign ministry has refused to comment on that possibility.