Trump says Kim talks likely in new year: report

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that his second meeting with the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Kim Jong-un, is likely to happen in January or February next year.

According to several Western media outlets, Trump told them aboard Air Force One after attending the G20 summit that the meeting would occur early in 2019. Three sites are being considered, he added.

Trump was also quoted as saying that at some point, he would invite Kim to the United States.

"I think we're going to do one fairly (soon) - you know, into January, February, I think," said Trump.

"We're getting along very well. We have a good relationship."

China welcomed the reports and urged the US and the DPRK to advance denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday night.

Wang made the remarks during a briefing on the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump earlier in the day at the G20 summit in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.

On Friday, while meeting with his Republic of Korea counterpart Moon Jae-in, Trump discussed his intention to hold a second US-DPRK summit, while he and Moon expressed their commitment to work together to make it happen.

The pair "reaffirmed their commitment to achieve the final, fully verified denuclearization" of the DPRK, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

Trump also met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and reviewed the recent developments related to the DPRK and discussed how best to work with the international community, including the ROK, to continue to put pressure on the DPRK until it implements its commitment to denuclearize.

After Trump and Kim met in Singapore in June, negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled due to differences on the scale of denuclearization, US sanctions and whether to issue a war-ending declaration.

On Nov 7, the State Department announced that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's meeting with Kim Yong Chol, vice-chairman of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea Central Committee, which had been scheduled in New York for Nov 8, would "take place at a later date".

Trump said in October that his meeting with Kim would be held after the US midterm elections, and the venue of his second meeting with Kim had been narrowed down to "three or four" locations.

Xinhua - AFP

(China Daily 12/03/2018 page12)