US officials in summit-planning talks with North Korea at Panmunjom
Updated
American and North Korean officials have met at the border truce village of Panmunjom in preparation for a possible North Korea-US summit, as North Korea's Kim Jong-un was cited as reaffirming his commitment to meet with US President Donald Trump.
Key points:
- US officials met with the North Korean vice foreign minister, Choe Son-hui
- The meetings are expected to continue on Monday and Tuesday
- A White House team will leave as scheduled for Singapore this weekend to prepare for the possible summit
Both Pyongyang and Washington are pressing ahead with plans for a meeting between the two leaders after Mr Trump pulled out of the scheduled June 12 summit on Thursday, only to reconsider the decision the next day.
"A US delegation is in ongoing talks with North Korean officials at Panmunjom," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, referring to a village in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ).
"We continue to prepare for a meeting between the President [Donald Trump] and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un."
In addition to the border talks, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said a "pre-advance team" left for Singapore on Sunday morning (local time) to work on logistics for a possible summit.
Earlier on Sunday (local time), South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he and North Korea's Mr Kim had agreed during a surprise meeting on Saturday the North Korea-US summit must be held.
The weekend meetings were the latest dramatic turn in a week of diplomatic ups and downs over the prospects for an unprecedented summit between the United States and North Korea, and the strongest sign yet the leaders of the two Koreas are trying to keep the meeting on track.
A US official said Sung Kim, the former US ambassador to South Korea, would lead an American delegation to meet North Korean officials at the border.
Pentagon official Randall Schriver was part of the US team, the official said.
The Washington Post first reported the team, which also included Allison Hooker, the Korea expert on the White House National Security Council, met with Choe Son Hui, the North Korean vice foreign minister.
The Post said the meetings would continue on Monday and Tuesday at Tongilgak, the North's building in Panmunjom, where the truce suspending the 1950-53 Korean War was signed.
Mr Kim reaffirmed his commitment to "complete" denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and to a planned meeting with Mr Trump, Mr Moon said.
"Chairman Kim and I have agreed that the June 12 summit should be held successfully, and that our quest for the Korean peninsula's denuclearisation and a perpetual peace regime should not be halted," Mr Moon said.
The meeting was the latest dramatic turn in a week of diplomatic ups and downs surrounding the prospects for an unprecedented summit between the United States and North Korea, and the strongest sign yet that the leaders of the two Koreas are trying to keep the on-again off-again meeting on track.
Kim expresses 'fixed will' on meeting Trump
While maintaining that Mr Kim is committed to denuclearisation, Mr Moon acknowledged Pyongyang and Washington might have differing expectations of what that meant and he urged both sides to hold working-level talks to resolve their differences.
A statement from North Korea's state news agency KCNA said Mr Kim expressed "his fixed will" on the possibility of meeting Mr Trump as previously planned.
Mr Trump said on Saturday (local time) he was still looking at a June 12 date for a summit in Singapore and that talks were progressing very well.
"We're doing very well in terms of the summit with North Korea," Mr Trump said at the White House.
"It's moving along very nicely. So we're looking at June 12th in Singapore. That hasn't changed. So, we'll see what happens."
A White House team will leave as scheduled for Singapore this weekend to prepare for the possible summit, a White House spokeswoman said on Saturday.
Mr Moon, who returned to Seoul on Thursday morning after meeting Mr Trump in Washington in an effort to keep the US-North Korea summit on track, said he delivered a message of Mr Trump's "firm resolve" to end the hostile relationship with North Korea and pursue bilateral economic cooperation.
Mr Trump said in a letter to Kim on Thursday he was cancelling the planned Singapore summit, citing North Korea's "open hostility".
The Trump administration has demanded that North Korea completely and irreversibly shut its nuclear weapons program.
Mr Kim and Mr Trump's initial decision to meet followed months of war threats and insults between the leaders over the program.
American officials are sceptical Mr Kim would ever fully abandon his nuclear arsenal, and Mr Moon said North Korea was not yet convinced it can trust security guarantees from the United States.
Reuters
Topics: world-politics, government-and-politics, nuclear-issues, donald-trump, korea-democratic-peoples-republic-of, korea-republic-of, asia, united-states
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