North Korean envoy in Sweden
HONG KONG — North Korea’s foreign minister flew to Sweden on Thursday, amid speculation that the country could be used as a venue for hammering out details of the planned talks between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, or could be the site of the talks themselves.
Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho was seen at Beijing’s international airport Thursday, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, following earlier reports that he might go to Sweden. Hours later, the Swedish Foreign Ministry confirmed that Ri would indeed be visiting the country for talks Thursday and Friday.
Sweden has long played an intermediary role between the United States and North Korea, which do not have diplomatic relations. With the United States lacking an embassy in North Korea, Sweden is the socalled protecting power that provides consular services for Americans, including meeting with citizens who are imprisoned there.
Sweden has also been the site of talks between North Korean officials and experts from the United States, South Korea and elsewhere.
Other locations that have been mentioned as possible sites for the Trump-Kim talks include the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea; Washington; Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital; Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; and Switzerland.
Trump’s decision to accept Kim’s invitation to meet shocked the diplomatic establishment last week, coming after months of bellicose insults and threats between the two leaders and their governments. Any meeting, should it actually come to fruition, would probably be held by May, said Chung Eui-yong, a South Korean official who conveyed the invitation to the White House.