AFP, Seoul :
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hailed a planned meeting with US President Donald Trump as a “historic” opportunity during talks with America’s top diplomat Mike Pompeo in Pyongyang, according to state media Thursday.
Kim, who is at the centre of a whirlwind of diplomacy as the international community looks to curtail the North’s nuclear programme, said his summit with Trump “would be a historic meeting” and an “excellent first step”.
He said it would help towards improving the situation on the Korean peninsula and the “building of a good future”, in comments published on North Korea’s official KCNA news agency.
It was the first time Kim is known to have acknowledged the planned meeting with Trump, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.
Pompeo was in the North to discuss arrangements for the high-stakes summit, expected within weeks, as well as to secure the release of three Americans detained in North Korea.
Kim said he had granted “amnesty” to the three men “who have been detained in the DPRK for their anti-DPRK hostilities”, according to KCNA.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday ruled out the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean peninsula as a venue for his upcoming summit with Kim Jong Un.
Trump, who had previously named the DMZ and Singapore as possible sites for the landmark meeting, told reporters at the White House the time and place would be announced “within three days.”
Asked if the meeting would be held in the DMZ, as Trump had suggested last week, he said it would not be.
Trump’s comments came as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo headed home after meeting in Pyongyang with Kim to discuss the summit preparations.
Returning with Pompeo are three Americans who had been detained by Pyongyang, the White House said.
Trump has said that the date and venue for the summit have now been set, but cautioned that the arrangements were still being worked out.
“Everything can be scuttled,” he said, when asked if the summit plans could yet be derailed.
“A lot of good things can happen, a lot of bad things can happen,” he said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hailed a planned meeting with US President Donald Trump as a “historic” opportunity during talks with America’s top diplomat Mike Pompeo in Pyongyang, according to state media Thursday.
Kim, who is at the centre of a whirlwind of diplomacy as the international community looks to curtail the North’s nuclear programme, said his summit with Trump “would be a historic meeting” and an “excellent first step”.
He said it would help towards improving the situation on the Korean peninsula and the “building of a good future”, in comments published on North Korea’s official KCNA news agency.
It was the first time Kim is known to have acknowledged the planned meeting with Trump, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.
Pompeo was in the North to discuss arrangements for the high-stakes summit, expected within weeks, as well as to secure the release of three Americans detained in North Korea.
Kim said he had granted “amnesty” to the three men “who have been detained in the DPRK for their anti-DPRK hostilities”, according to KCNA.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday ruled out the Demilitarized Zone that divides the Korean peninsula as a venue for his upcoming summit with Kim Jong Un.
Trump, who had previously named the DMZ and Singapore as possible sites for the landmark meeting, told reporters at the White House the time and place would be announced “within three days.”
Asked if the meeting would be held in the DMZ, as Trump had suggested last week, he said it would not be.
Trump’s comments came as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo headed home after meeting in Pyongyang with Kim to discuss the summit preparations.
Returning with Pompeo are three Americans who had been detained by Pyongyang, the White House said.
Trump has said that the date and venue for the summit have now been set, but cautioned that the arrangements were still being worked out.
“Everything can be scuttled,” he said, when asked if the summit plans could yet be derailed.
“A lot of good things can happen, a lot of bad things can happen,” he said.
