South Korea’s Moon for more talks with North
Visit to N Korea by US officials indicates meet could happen
SEOUL: South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said on Monday there could be more impromptu talks and summits with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, as US officials prepare for a historic meeting between President Donald Trump and Kim.
Moon and Kim held a surprise meeting on Saturday at the border village of Panmunjom, during which they agreed that a North Korea-US summit must be held.
“What’s more important than anything from the latest inter-Korean summit was that the leaders easily got in contact, easily made an appointment and easily met to discuss urgent matters, without complicated procedures and formalities, just like a casual meeting,” Moon told a meeting with senior secretaries.
Trump last week pulled out of the meeting with Kim, planned for June 12 in Singapore, before announcing he had reconsidered and US and North Korean officials were meeting to work out details.
Moon could also travel to Singapore for a three-way summit with his US and North Korean counterparts next month, depending on the outcome of ongoing discussions between Washington and Pyongyang, a top official said on Monday.
The trip, if made, will likely be made around June 12 when Trump and Kim are scheduled to hold their bilateral summit, the official from Seoul’s presidential office told Yonhap News Agency.
The three-way summit, if held, will likely be aimed at providing a security guarantee for North Korea in exchange for its denuclearisation.
On Sunday, Trump said a US team was in North Korea for preparatory talks ahead of a potential meeting between him and Kim.
“Our United States team has arrived in North Korea to make arrangements for the Summit between Kim Jong Un and myself,” Trump tweeted.
the US state department said American and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom.
A “pre-advance” team of US officials was also travelling to Singapore to meet with North Koreans there, the White House said.
A US official told Reuters that Sung Kim, the former ambassador to South Korea, was leading the American delegation to meet North Korean officials at the border.
Pentagon official Randall Schriver was also part of the US team, the official said. The Washington Post first reported the team met with Choe Son Hui, the North Korean vice foreign minister. The US delegation also included Allison Hooker, the Korea expert on the White House National Security Council.
After weeks of political posturing by both Trump and Kim, analysts welcomed the news the United States had dispatched a team of seasoned negotiators to hold several days of preparatory talks with the North Koreans.
“Sending such an experienced and professional team signals that the Trump administration is getting serious about the specifics of an agreement,” said former US deputy assistant secretary of defence for East Asia, Abraham Denmark.
Still, with only a few weeks left until the scheduled summit, such talks are unlikely to reconcile the differing positions over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal, he said.