North and South Korean leaders hold surprise talks
THE leaders of North and South Korea held an unexpected meeting yesterday at the end of a bizarre week of diplomacy that saw President Donald Trump dramatically cancel, and then warm again to, a meeting with Kim Jong-un.
Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, held the two-hour meeting with Kim on the demilitarised border between their countries in what the South said was an effort to ensure the high-stakes summit between Kim and Mr Trump takes place successfully.
In pictures abruptly beamed around the world, Kim was seen hugging Mr Moon and kissing him on the cheek three times after their meeting.
Mr Moon had travelled to Washington on Tuesday to meet Mr Trump, amid concerns that the US president could call off the North Korean summit, scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.
On Thursday Mr Trump then did as Mr Moon had feared and announced the summit was off, writing an extraordinary letter to Mr Kim saying that “based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement” it would be “inappropriate” to meet.
White House officials said they were angered at being stood up by the North Koreans, who failed to appear at a meeting in Singapore to discuss the summit. Yet 24 hours later there were hopes the summit could be back on.
North Korea issued a conciliatory statement expressing regret that the meeting was cancelled, and Mr Trump said that Washington was having “productive talks” with Pyongyang about reinstating the June 12 meeting.
James Mattis, the defence secretary, said he was hopeful it could go ahead, if the diplomats could “pull it off ”.
Mr Trump defended his hot and cold approach to high-stakes nuclear diplomacy yesterday after the inner workings of the White House position on North Korea were scrutinised by The New York Times.
Mr Trump reacted furiously to a report which suggested that there were deep divisions in the White House over the summit, with John Bolton, his hawkish national security adviser, believing the meeting was unwise, while Mr Mattis and Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, hoped it went ahead.
“Unlike what the Failing and Corrupt New York Times would like people to believe, there is ZERO disagreement within the Trump Administration,” he tweeted.