Korean leaders’ talks are ‘easy’

ON TRACK: DESPITE TRUMP, MOON AND KIM ‘MEET CASUALLY’

US team resumes talks to prepare for the summit in June.

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said yesterday 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 American and North Korean officials were meeting to work out details.

On Sunday, the US State Department said US and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom, a village in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that runs along the heavily armed border between North and South Korea.

A “pre-advance” team of US officials was also travelling to Singapore to meet with North Koreans there, the White House said.

Asian stocks and US share futures gained yesterday, while shares in South Korean construction and railway firms surged after Trump said his officials and North Korea have resumed talks to prepare for the summit in June.

Shares of Shinwon Corp, which used to operate factories in the Kaesong industrial region near the Demilitarised Zone, jumped 22%, while Hyundai Engineering & Construction gained 24%.

A United States official told Reuters that Sung Kim, the former US ambassador to South Korea, was leading the American delegation to meet North Korean officials at the border.

“It’s a good thing to have him on board,” said a former senior South Korean official, who worked with Sung Kim in the past. “He’s capable, level-headed, cautious, and has solid grasp of the issues and knows North Koreans well. But at the same time he has healthy scepticism.”

Pentagon official Randall Schriver was also part of the US team. The Washington Post first reported the team met with Choe Son Hui, the North Korean vice foreign minister. – Reuters