President extends offer to host second Trump-Kim summit

ULAANBAATAR: Mongolia has invited Kim Jong-un to visit the nation’s capital, which once hoped to host the historic summit between the North Korean leader and US President Donald Trump, an official said on Tuesday.

The invitation comes amid expectations that Mr Kim and Mr Trump, who met in Singapore in June, will hold a second summit — a time and location for which have yet to be determined.

According to Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga’s office, the invitation was sent to Mr Kim on Oct 10, though no specific date was proposed.

The North Korean leader can visit “whenever he feels convenient”, an official from the president’s office said, confirming a report published on Monday by North Korea’s KCNA state news service.

Mongolia had offered to host Mr Trump and Mr Kim for their landmark summit in June, but they ended up picking Singapore, where they agreed to a vaguely worded statement on denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Mr Trump said last week that three or four unspecified locations have been shortlisted for their next meeting, but it would “probably” not be in Singapore again, and he did not give a date.

Mr Kim’s only other known foreign trips since taking power in 2011 are three visits to China this year.

He has also met South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Demilitarised Zone separating their countries, where he momentarily crossed into Pyongyang’s southern neighbour.

Mongolia is one of the few countries that has normal relations with the authoritarian regime in North Korea.

The two countries celebrated 70 years of diplomatic ties this year.