N. Korea ready to talk nukes

Pyongyang tells Washington that leader Kim Jong-un is willing to discuss his nuclear weapons programme with President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON: North Korean officials have told their US counterparts that Kim Jong-un is ready to discuss denuclearisation, an assurance that could pave the way for a planned meeting with President Donald Trump, reports said.

It is the first time Pyongyang has made the offer of a summit directly to Washington, after its invitation was previously conveyed through a South Korean envoy.

“The US has confirmed that Kim Jong-un is willing to discuss the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula,” a Trump administration official told The Wall Street Journal and Washington Post on Sunday.

Washington stunned observers when it announced last month that it had agreed to a historic first meeting between Trump and Kim, to be held by the end of May.

The North’s offer to meet was delivered to the White House by South Korea’s national security adviser Chung Eui-yong, who had met Kim during a visit to Pyongyang days earlier.

But Pyongyang has failed to publicly confirm the offer since, beyond a commentary from its state-run KCNA news agency noting the “dramatic atmosphere for reconciliation” with the South and “a sign of change” with the US.

This silence made US officials nervous that Seoul had overstated the North’s willingness to negotiate its own nuclear arsenal, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Many remain sceptical about whether the planned summit can even succeed.

It is scheduled to take place without the months of groundwork that usually precedes such meetings.

CNN reported on Saturday that secret, direct talks paving the way for the summit were under way between North Korean and US intelligence officials, citing anonymous White House sources.

But no specifics have yet emerged concerning the proposed summit, with a third country such as Mongolia or Sweden under consideration to host the talks, according to multiple reports.

Beyond that, a detailed agenda for the talks will need to be set.

Washington’s long-held stance is that it will not accept a nucleararmed North Korea.

That means it wants to see “complete, verifiable, and irreversible” denuclearisation – a very high bar.

The North has previously demanded the withdrawal of US troops based in the South and the end of the security alliance between Seoul and Washington – an extraordinary concession hard to imagine any previous US leader acceding to.

South Korea yesterday welcomed the reported offer by the North to discuss denuclearisation.

“We are not a directly concerned party since it is something that is taking place between the US and North Korea, but if the reports are true, we view it positively and welcome it,” said Nam Sang-kyu, a spokesman at the South’s presidential office.

The South will host its own summit later this month between Kim and the South’s president Moon Jaein.