N. Korea ready to discuss denuclearisation

WASHINGTON: North Korea has told the United States for the first time that it is prepared to discuss the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula when North Korean leader Kim Jongun meets President Donald Trump, a US official said yesterday.

US and North Korean officials have held secret contacts recently in which Pyongyang directly confirmed its willingness to hold the unprecedented summit, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The communications, still at a preliminary stage, have involved State Department officials talking to North Korea, apparently through its United Nations mission, and intelligence officers from both sides using a separate backchannel, the official said.

Until now, the US had relied mostly on ally South Korea’s assurance of Kim’s intentions.

South Korean envoys visited Washington last month to convey Kim’s invitation to meet. Trump, who has exchanged bellicose threats with Kim in the past year, surprised the world by quickly agreeing to meet Kim to discuss the crisis over Pyongyang’s development of nuclear weapons capable of hitting the US.

But North Korea has not broken its public silence on the summit, which US officials have said is being planned for May. There was no immediate word on the possible venue for the talks, which would be the first between a sitting US president and North Korean leader.

The US official declined to say exactly when the USNorth Korea communications had taken place. — Reuters