TRUMP HOPES TO MEET KIM EARLY NEXT YEAR
US president says three sites are mulled for S’pore summit follow-up
UNITED States President Donald Trump on Saturday said he hoped to organise a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un early next year, perhaps as soon as January or February.
Trump told reporters travelling home to Washington with him aboard Air Force One from Argentina that “three sites” were in consideration for the meeting, a follow-up to their historic summit in Singapore in June.
When asked about a future meeting, Trump said: “I think we’re going to do one fairly (soon) — into January, February, I think.”
Trump had been in Buenos Aires for the G20 summit.
When asked if he would ever host Kim in the US, the Republican president replied: “At some point, yeah.”
In June, Trump and Kim opened up dialogue on denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula after months of trading military threats and pointed barbs.
The two leaders signed a vaguely worded document on denuclearisation of the peninsula, but progress since has stalled as Washington and Pyongyang spar over the meaning of the document.
North Korea has taken few concrete steps to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was due to meet a top North Korean official in early November, but the meeting was abruptly put off, with North Korea insisting that the White House ease sanctions.
On Friday, Trump discussed the situation with South Korean President Moon Jae-in on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
The pair “reaffirmed their commitment to achieve the final, fully verified denuclearisation” of North Korea, Trump’s spokesman Sarah Sanders said.