Trump and Kim raise summit hopes after days of brinkmanship
AFP
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is committed to complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and to a landmark summit with US President Donald Trump, South Koreas leader said yesterday, as Trump announced that plans for the meeting are moving along very nicely, reports AFP from Seoul. The latest conciliatory declarations capped a turbulent few days of diplomatic brinkmanship that had sent tensions soaring. Trump rattled a sabre on Thursday by cancelling the planned June 12 meeting with Kim in Singapore, citing open hostility from Pyongyang.
But within 24 hours he reversed course, saying it could still go ahead after productive talks were held with North Korean officials. Its moving along very nicely, Trump told reporters when asked for an update. Were looking at June 12 in Singapore. That hasnt changed.
Trumps unpredictability sparked a surprise meeting on Saturday between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in -- only the fourth time leaders from the two countries have ever met -- as they scrambled to get the talks back on track. Pictures showed them shaking hands and embracing on the North Korean side of the Demilitarised Zone separating the two nations.
Moon said Kim reached out to him to arrange the hasty meeting without any formality, a stunning development given that the Koreas only reopened a defunct hotline between the two nations last month.
The North Korean leader described the Singapore summit as a landmark opportunity to end decades of confrontation.
He... expressed his intention to put an end to the history of war and confrontation through the success of the
North-US summit and to cooperate for peace and prosperity, Moon told reporters yesterday. Moon added that Kim reaffirmed his commitment to complete denuclearisation but was uncertain whether he could trust that the US would end its hostile policy and guarantee the security of his regime if he gave up those weapons. Pyongyangs state-run KCNA news agency said Kim expressed his fixed will to meet Trump, adding South and North Korea would hold another round of high-level talks on June 1.
There was a further signal of progress Saturday as White House press secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed a team of US officials was leaving for Singapore in order to prepare should the summit take place.
