The second U.S.-North Korea summit with Kim Jong Un is probably happening “quite soon,” President Donald Trump told reporters Monday.
The Latest: President Donald Trump says a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is likely to take place “quite soon.” https://t.co/zfnsGrJzcq
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 24, 2018
The President also pointed out how his relationship with Kim has improved since last year, when it felt like every other week there were reports of North Korea firing off nuclear missile tests.
“It was a different world. That was a dangerous time. This is one year later, a much different time,” he told reporters, the Associated Press reported.
He said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is working to make the second summit happen, and when asked if the meeting will happen, he said, “We will be doing that,” the AP said.
Trump was addressing reporters at the United Nations in New York City on Monday. The U.N. General Assembly is taking place, and the President, as well as many other world leaders, are gathering in and around Manhattan for events.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is also said to be carrying a personal, private letter from Kim that he will deliver to Trump when two meet on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly this week.
“There are things that the United States wants us to convey to North Korea, and on the other side there are also things that North Korea wants us to convey to the United States,” Moon said Thursday after returning to Seoul from Pyongyang, the Associated Press had reported. “I will faithfully serve that role when I meet President Trump to facilitate dialogue between North Korea and the United States.”
Moon and Kim met last week for a 3-day inter-Korean summit, the third in four months, where they agreed to start the process of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and signed an agreement of North Korea’s reaffirmation for denuclearization.
Trump and Moon are said to be meeting this week sometime during the United Nations General Assembly. Trump is going to chair the Security Council meeting on Iran on Tuesday.
Following their summit, South Korea announced Thursday that Kim wanted to meet with Pompeo very soon, and have a second summit with Trump, in order to accelerate and “speed up” the denuclearization process of the Korean Peninsula.
Pompeo had said last week that the goal is for North Korea to denuclearize by 2012, and that he has invited North Korea’s foreign minister to meet in New York next week during United Nations General Assembly week, Reuters had reported.
On Wednesday, Kim and Moon in North Korea signed a summit agreement saying North Korea will renew its process of denuclearization, to include shutting down one of the country’s major nuclear facilities and removing all nuclear weapons from the Korean Peninsula.
“The North has agreed to permanently shut down its Dongchang-ri missile engine testing facility and missile launch pad under the participation of experts from related countries,” and North Korea also agreed to permanently shut down the Yongbyon nuclear facility, “depending on the United States’ corresponding measures,” Moon said during a press conference in Pyongyang, South Korea’s Yonhap News had reported Wednesday.
“The South and the North discussed denuclearization steps for the first time,” Moon added.
“The September declaration will open a higher level for the improvement in relations (between the South and the North) … and bring closer the era of peace and prosperity,” Kim said, Yonhap reported.
According to the joint agreement the two leaders signed, “The North expressed its willingness to continue taking additional steps, such as the permanent shutdown of the Yongbyon nuclear facility, should the United States take corresponding measures under the spirit of the June 12 North Korea-U.S. joint statement.”
The White House has confirmed that a second U.S.-North Korea summit is in the works.
