Surprise meeting between Korean leaders revives Trump summit hope
Prospects of historic summit given a boost as the Korean presidents talk about ways to make it a success
South Korea’s Moon Jae-in held a surprise meeting with the North’s leader Kim Jong-un yesterday, in a bid to ensure a summit with US President Donald Trump is successful.
It was the clearest sign yet that summit between Mr Trump and Mr Kim is likely to be held as initially agreed, in Singapore on June 12.
The unannounced meeting at the Panmunjom border village between Mr Moon and Mr Kim came a month after they held the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade at the same venue, and declared they would work towards a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.
“The two leaders candidly exchanged views about making the North Korea-US summit a successful one and about implementing the Panmunjom Declaration,” South Korea’s presidential spokesman said.
Mr Moon, who returned to Seoul this week after a meeting with Mr Trump, will announce details of the meeting with Mr Kim this morning.
Mr Trump on Friday said that Washington was having “productive talks” with Pyongyang about reinstating the June 12 meeting, just a day after cancelling it.
Politico magazine reported that an advance team of 30 White House and US State Department officials was preparing to leave for Singapore this weekend.
Reuters reported last week the team was scheduled to discuss the agenda and logistics for the summit with North Korean officials. The delegation was to include White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joseph Hagin and Deputy National Security Adviser Mira Ricardel, US officials said.
Mr Trump had earlier indicated the summit could be salvaged after conciliatory statement from Pyongyang saying it remained open to talks.
“It was a very nice statement they put out,” Mr Trump said. “We’ll see what happens – it could even be the 12th. We’re talking to them now. They very much want to do it. We’d like to do it.”
The comments came just a day after Mr Trump cancelled the meeting because of what the US government called the North’s “open hostility.”
In Pyongyang, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said the antagonism showed “the urgent necessity” for the summit.
He said North Korea regretted Mr Trump’s decision to cancel and remained open to resolving issues “regardless of ways, at any time”. He said Pyongyang had appreciated Mr Trump’s work towards a summit.
North Korea also went ahead with a plan to destroy its nuclear site on Thursday, the most concrete action yet since pledging to cease all nuclear and long-range missile tests last month.
Mr Trump’s about-face sent officials scrambling in Washington. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said: “He wants to get something that’s a long-lasting and an actual real solution. If they are ready to do that, then we’re certainly ready to have those conversations.”