North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has acknowledged the prospect of talks with the US, state media reported Tuesday, in his first official mention of dialogue with Washington ahead of a planned summit with President Donald Trump.
Trump agreed last month to a landmark summit with the nuclear-armed North but no specific dates or venue were set.
On Monday, Kim discussed the “the prospect of the DPRK-U.S. dialogue” with party officials, the state KCNA news agency said, referring to the North by its official acronym.
He delivered a report “on the development of the recent situation on the Korean peninsula”, including the separate summit with South Korea to be held later this month, it said.
In a growing rapprochement on the Korean peninsula, Kim is scheduled to meet the South’s president Moon Jae-in for a rare inter-Korean summit on April 27.
Trump has also agreed to meet Kim to discuss denuclearization as soon as next month. The summit would be the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.
But the North remained publicly silent for weeks after its leader’s invitation to talks was first delivered to Trump by South Korean officials.
Source: AFP
