US talking directly with N Korea over meeting with Kim: Trump
Washington, Apr 18: President Donald Trump today said the US was in direct talks with North Korea “at a very high level” ahead of his planned summit with Kim Jong-un.
The two countries were looking at five potential venues for the summit, “but it is not in the United States”, Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago where he was hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“We’ve also started talking to North Korea directly. We have had direct talks at very high levels — extremely high levels — with North Korea,” Trump said before a restricted bilateral meeting with Abe.
“I really believe there’s a lot of goodwill. A lot of good things are happening. We’ll see what happens. As I always say, we’ll see what happens. Because ultimately, it’s the end result that counts, not the fact that we’re thinking about having a meeting or having a meeting,” he said.
Asked about the location of the potential venues, Trump confirmed that they were outside the US.
“We have not picked a site yet, but we’ve picked five sites where it’s potentially going to be. We’ll let you know fairly soon. Let’s see what happens. We’ll either have a very good meeting or we won’t have a good meeting. Maybe we won’t even have a meeting at all depending on what’s going in,” he said.
The US president said irrespective of whether the meeting happens or not, there was mutual respect for each other between the two countries.
“I look forward to meeting with Kim Jong-un. And hopefully that will be a success. Maybe it will be, and maybe it won’t be. We don’t know. But we will see what happens. But I can say this: They do respect us. We are respectful of them. We are going to see what happens,” Trump said.
In his remarks, Abe said prior to the small group discussion at the one-on-one session, the two leaders already had a very in-depth discussion focusing on the issue of North Korea and also the economic issues.
“On those two points, we actually successfully forged a mutual understanding. So, I’m very happy to see the outcome of our one-on-one discussion,” he said.
Abe said the planned meeting between South Korea and North Korea was made possible with the help of Trump who successfully pressured Pyongyang into softening its stance.
“Since the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games in South Korea, we have observed major change in terms of North Korea’s behaviour. Background of this change is Donald’s (Trump)unwavering conviction, as well as the determination that you demonstrated in addressing the issue of North Korea. So your stance made it possible to achieve this major change,” he said.
“As a matter of fact, the US has the overwhelming military power in the world. By using this strength, you have been effectively applying the overwhelming level of pressure against North Korea. And this, actually, successfully led to the outcome that we have already observed,” Abe said.
The Japanese prime minister expressed hope that the US-North Korea summit meeting yield tangible progress toward resolving a wide range of issues, from nuclear issues, missile issues to the abductions issue.
“So this will be a historic meeting, and I certainly hope that there will be progress on these fronts,” he said.
Trump said he will bring up the abductees.
The US President also thanked the Chinese President Xi Jinping for playing a “constructive” role on the issue of North Korea.
“He’s been incredibly generous. They have never been this way with the United States. I think they have more respect for us, perhaps our leadership, but for us than they’ve ever had before,” he said.
“President Xi has been very strong on the border, much stronger than anyone thought they would be. I’d like them to be stronger on the border. But he has been at a level that nobody ever expected. The goods coming into North Korea have been cut down very substantially. As you know, 93 per cent of the goods coming into North Korea come through China, come through the border,” Trump said.
Ahead of summit, CIA chief secretly meets with NKorea’s Kim
Washington, Apr 17 (AP) CIA Director Mike Pompeo recently travelled to North Korea to meet with leader Kim Jong-un, a highly unusual, secret visit undertaken as the enemy nations prepared for a meeting between President Donald Trump and Kim within the next few months.
Two officials confirmed the trip to The Associated Press on Tuesday. The officials were not authorised to discuss the visit publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Washington Post, which first reported Pompeo’s meeting with Kim, said it took place over Easter weekend — just over two weeks ago, shortly after the CIA chief was nominated to become secretary of state.
Trump, who was hosting Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his Florida estate, said the US and North Korea were holding direct talks at “extremely high levels” in preparation for a possible summit with Kim. He said five locations were under consideration for the meeting, which was slated to take place by early June.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump and Kim had not spoken directly.
Kim’s offer for a summit was initially conveyed to Trump by South Korea last month, and the president shocked many by accepting it. US officials indicated over the past two weeks that North Korea’s government had communicated directly with Washington that it was ready to discuss its nuclear weapons program.
It would be the first-ever summit between the US and North Korea during more than six decades of hostility since the Korean War. North Korea’s nuclear weapons and its capability to deliver them by ballistic missile pose a growing threat to the US mainland.
The US and North Korea do not have formal diplomatic relations, complicating the arrangements for contacts between the two governments. It is not unprecedented for US intelligence officials to serve as a conduit for communication with Pyongyang.
In 2014, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper secretly visited North Korea to bring back two American detainees.
At his confirmation hearing last week to become secretary of state, Pompeo played down expectations for a breakthrough deal on ending North Korea’s nuclear weapons at the planned Trump-Kim summit, but he said it could lay the groundwork for a comprehensive agreement on denuclearisation.
“I’m optimistic that the United States government can set the conditions for that appropriately so that the president and the North Korean leader can have that conversation and will set us down the course of achieving a diplomatic outcome that America and the world so desperately need,” Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
After a year of escalating tensions, when North Korea conducted nuclear and long-range missile tests that drew world condemnation, Kim has pivoted to international outreach.
The young leader met China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing in late March, Kim’s first trip abroad since taking power six years ago. He is set to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the demilitarised zone between the rival Koreas on April 27.
