President Donald Trump has finnaly agreed to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The meeting between the two leaders was announced by the White House , setting the scene for an unprecedented encounter between two nations that only recently threatened to wipe each other out.
The meeting, which would be the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader, will take place by May, according to South Korea’s national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, who delivered the invitation to Trump after a visit by his delegation to Pyongyang earlier this week.
The stunning announcement was the culmination of a diplomatic whirlwind that began with the invitation of a North Korean delegation to attend the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, which became the venue for a series of carefully orchestrated diplomatic overtures.
Trump’s decision to meet Kim, after a year in which the two have repeatedly traded insults, is a remarkable breakthrough — albeit one with uncertain consequences. It brings Pyongyang close to its long-desired aim of recognition on the international stage, and it offers Trump the tantalizing prospect of a historic diplomatic victory.
The South Korean delegation, which landed in Washington, D.C. for a debriefing Thursday on the North-South talks, was careful to praise Trump’s influence over the developments. Chung said the US President’s “leadership” and his administration’s pressure on the North Korean regime had “brought us to this juncture.”
South Korean officials leave for US with message from North Korea to Trump
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that Trump “greatly appreciates the nice words” of the delegation and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
“He will accept the invitation to meet with Kim Jong Un at a place and time to be determined. We look forward to the denuclearization of North Korea. In the meantime, all sanctions and maximum pressure must remain.”
There are many details to be ironed out before the meeting could take place, including the location. The Panmunjom truce village in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), one possible venue, hosted meetings between North and South Korea in the run-up to the Winter Olympics.
South Korea’s President Moon described the announcement as “historic” and and thanked both leaders for seeking a diplomatic solution to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
This is an almost miraculous event; my administration will prepare toward the May meeting with utmost diligence,” he said in remarks read out in Seoul by a Blue House spokesman.
He added that Lim Jong-seok, his Chief Secretary, would take charge of preparations for an inter-Korea summit, scheduled for the end of April, ahead of the proposed US-North Korea talks.
