Kim, Trump set to meet after all

SUMMIT: PLANNING FOR HISTORIC TALKS MOVING AHEAD Senior North Korea member expected in America today, US leader has confirmed.

Asenior North Korean official is headed to New York to discuss an upcoming summit, US President Donald Trump said yesterday, the latest indication that an on-again-offagain meeting between Trump and North Korea’s leader may go ahead next month.

“We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the vice-chairperson of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!” Trump said in a Twitter post.

Kim Yong Chol, of the ruling Workers’ Party’s central committee, was scheduled to fly to the US today after speaking to Chinese officials in Beijing, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said.

The talks indicate that planning for the historic summit, initially scheduled for June 12, is moving ahead after Trump called it off last week in a letter to the North’s leader Kim Jong-Un.

A day later, Trump said he had reconsidered, and officials from both countries were meeting to work out details.

Kim Yong Chol will be the most senior official to meet top officials for talks in the US since Jo Myong Rok met then-president Bill Clinton in 2000 at the White House.

Analysts believe the US is trying to determine whether North Korea is willing to agree to steps towards denuclearisation to allow a summit to take place.

Kim’s de facto chief of staff, Kim Chang Son, meanwhile, flew to Singapore via Beijing late on Monday, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported. At the same time, a “pre-advance” US team was in Singapore to meet North Koreans.

In Singapore, a team of US officials was at a hotel on the resort island of Sentosa but declined to comment.

North Korea has faced years of isolation and economic sanctions over its nuclear and missile programmes since it conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.

But events have moved quickly since Kim made a conciliatory New Year’s address at the end of last year, following months of sharply rising tension.

The latest flurry of diplomacy began on Saturday, when Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a surprise meeting at the border village of Panmunjom, during which they agreed that the North Korea-US summit must be held.