Donald Trump could meet North Korea leader Kim Jong-un in next three or four weeks
Updated
US President Donald Trump has said a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could take place within the month.
Key points:
- Singapore is being considered as a location for the Trump-Kim summit
- Mr Trump said he would continue to sanctions pressure on Pyongyang
- He is also providing the Japanese Prime Minister with updates on the negotiations
Mr Trump made the announcement at a campaign rally in Michigan today.
"I think we will have a meeting over the next three or four weeks," he said.
"It's going be a very important meeting, the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula."
Mr Trump has also spoken with the leaders of South Korea and Japan ahead of his unprecedented meeting with Mr Kim.
Earlier, he tweeted about having "a long and very good talk" with South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
"Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set," he said.
"Also spoke to Prime Minister Abe of Japan to inform him of the ongoing negotiations."
Mr Moon's office said during the phone call, Mr Trump agreed that the summit between Mr Kim and the US President should be held soon, with Mr Trump telling the South Korean leader the meeting would take place over the next three to four weeks.
Mr Trump and Mr Moon exchanged views on two to three possible locations for the meeting, according to the South Korean leader's office.
A senior US official said Singapore is being considered as a possible venue for the Trump-Kim summit.
Mr Trump said he would maintain sanctions pressure on Pyongyang ahead of the meeting with Mr Kim, and would not be "played like a fiddle".
The US President previously took credit for the leaders of North and South Korea agreeing to the denuclearisation of the peninsula.
North Korea's state news agency called the inter-Korean summit a turning point.
Turnbull praises Trump
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has praised Mr Trump's negotiations on North Korea, saying he had helped bring the two Korean leaders together.
"I have given him that credit because Donald Trump has taken a very, very strong hard line on the denuclearisation issue and he has been able to bring in the support of the global community and, in particular, China," Mr Turnbull said.
"North Korea's economic relationship is overwhelmingly with China. And so China's preparedness to impose those sanctions has been the critical change that has put the economic pressure on North Korea."
Mr Turnbull said the pressure from China and the US had brought Mr Kim to the point of denuclearising the Korean peninsula.
"What we've now got to do is not relent on the economic pressure until that goal is achieved," he said.
Australia will send a military aircraft to monitor North Korean vessels suspected of transferring illicit goods in defiance of United Nations sanctions, Mr Turnbull said.
North Korean media covers historic Kim, Moon visit
A day after the meeting between Mr Kim and Mr Moon produced dramatic images and a sweeping declaration of goodwill, South Korean media were replaying striking scenes of the two leaders and North Korea's main state newspaper published a multi-page spread with more than 60 photos from the visit.
On Saturday afternoon, North Korean state TV broadcast its first footage of the summit.
Most of the specific commitments outlined in the official declaration focused on inter-Korean relations and did not clear up the question of whether Pyongyang is willing to give up its arsenal of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
In their coverage of the summit, North Korean state media made rare mentions of the denuclearisation discussion, but did not go into specifics, instead highlighting the broad themes of peace, prosperity, and Korean unity.
The declaration earned guarded but optimistic praise from world leaders, including Mr Trump, who said that only time would tell, but that he did not think Mr Kim was "playing".
"It's never gone this far. This enthusiasm for them wanting to make a deal ... We are going to hopefully make a deal."
Still, Mr Trump told reporters, he would "not repeat the mistakes of past administrations".
Reuters/ABC
Topics: donald-trump, world-politics, government-and-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, korea-democratic-peoples-republic-of, korea-republic-of, japan, united-states
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