Trump-kim summit back on after Oval Office talks
President agrees meeting with North Korean official and says he is considering lifting economic sanctions
DONALD TRUMP yesterday announced that his June 12 meeting with Kim Jong-un was back on after he met a senior North Korean official at the White House.
The president reversed last week’s cancellation of the Singapore summit and signalled that he was considering lifting sanctions on the Pyongyang regime.
In the past, his administration has suggested this could only happen after North Korea has given up its nuclear capability.
However, he played down the chance of any sudden breakthrough at the summit, saying it would be the “beginning” of a process.
He said: “I’ve never said it happens in one meeting – you’re talking about years of hostility, years of problems, years of hatred between so many different nations.
“I told them today, take your time. We can go fast, we can go slowly.”
Mr Trump added that he no longer wanted to use the phrase “maximum pressure” to describe his approach to North Korea.
Mr Trump spoke to Kim Yong-chol, one of Kim’s closest confidants and a former spy chief, for more than 90 minutes in the Oval Office.
It was the first time a senior North Korean official has had talks at the White House in 18 years.
Kim Yong-chol also delivered a letter to Mr Trump from Kim Jong-un.
Footage showed Kim Yong-chol being greeted by John Kelly, Mr Trump’s chief of staff, before being walked into the White House.
When the pair emerged from the office, the President walked Kim Yongchol to his car before posing for photographs.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Mr Trump confirmed that he would now attend the June 12 meeting.
He said that summit would only be the start of a relationship, but added: “I think you’re going to have a very positive result in the end.”
Mr Trump added: “I look forward to the day I can take the sanctions off North Korea.”
The president also suggested that he and Kim could formally end the Korean War when they meet.
The announcement will mean a frantic scramble to ensure all security and policy arrangements are in place for the summit, now less than two weeks away.
The Trump administration continues to stress its commitment to the US’S long-held aim of achieving the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of North Korea.
Senior US officials have suggested in the past that the North Korea government will have to give up its nuclear programme in full before any economic sanctions are lifted.
However, the North Korean leader has reportedly said he wants a phased approach, which would see his regime give up its nuclear programme in parts in return for some economic benefits.
Mr Trump has previously expressed interest in the idea.
In recent weeks other world leaders and their aides have scrambled to meet Kim in an attempt to help shape expected talks on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
Vladimir Putin offered an invitation for Kim to visit him in Russia through Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, who met the North Korean leader this week.
Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, and Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, have both met Kim twice this year while a meeting with Shinzō Abe, the Japanese prime minister, remains possible.