Trump-Kim summit firmly back on radar
US team pays rare visit to Panmunjom
SEOUL: A US team has visited North Korea to plan a summit with leader Kim Jong-un, according to US President Donald Trump, raising expectations that the on-off-on meeting would indeed take place.
Both the State Department and South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said the nations’ officials have been engaged in talks at the Korean village of Panmunjom, which straddles the border inside the demilitarised zone, or DMZ. One can cross the border simply by stepping across a painted line, but moving beyond several footsteps into the North at Panmunjom would be rare for US officials.
Mr Trump withdrew from a Singapore summit planned for June 12 with Mr Kim last Thursday, but quickly announced that it could get back on track. His tweet on Sunday afternoon, which offered praise for the longtime US adversary, was the latest signal that his concerns about North Korea’s stance toward the summit had been allayed.
“Our United States team has arrived in North Korea to make arrangements for the Summit between Kim Jong-un and myself,” he tweeted on Sunday. “I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial nation one day. Kim Jong-un agrees with me on this. It will happen!”
South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, gave details about his surprise meeting on Saturday with Mr Kim in the Panmunjom truce village, saying Mr Kim had committed to sitting down with Mr Trump and to a “complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tapped veteran American diplomat Sung Kim, the US ambassador to the Philippines, to handle pre-summit negotiations. On a separate but complementary track was the CIA team Mr Pompeo set up last year when he headed the spy agency. And on a third track was a White House logistical group sent to Singapore on Sunday to prepare in case the summit takes place. It was led by Joe Hagin, White House deputy chief of staff for operations.
The Korean leaders’ second summit in a month saw bear hugs and broad smiles. But their quickly arranged meeting on Saturday appeared to highlight a sense of urgency on both sides of the world’s most heavily armed border.
The talks, which Mr Moon said Kim Jong-un requested, capped a whirlwind 24 hours of diplomatic back and forth. They allowed Mr Moon to push for a USNorth Korean summit that he sees as the best way to ease animosity that had some fearing a war last year.
Mr Kim may see a meeting with Mr Trump as necessary to easing pressure from crushing sanctions and to winning security assurances in a region surrounded by enemies.
Mr Kim “again made clear his commitment to a complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula” and said he’s willing to cooperate to end confrontation and work toward peace for the sake of a successful summit with Mr Trump, Mr Moon said.
Mr Moon said he told Mr Kim that Mr Trump has a “firm resolve” to end hostile relations with North Korea and initiate economic cooperation if Mr Kim implements “complete denuclearisation”.
“What Mr Kim is unclear about is that he has concerns about whether his country can surely trust the United States over its promise to end hostile relations [with North Korea] and provide a security guarantee if they do denuclearisation,” Mr Moon said.
“Mr Trump said the US is willing to put an end to hostile relations [with North Korea] and help [the North] achieve economic prosperity if North Korea conducts denuclearisation,” he said.