A close aide to Kim Jong Un arrived in Washington on Thursday to lay the groundwork for a second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader, with negotiations over how to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula stalled.
An unspecified emissary is expected to meet with the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday and, if progress is made, visit the White House for talks with Trump. Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers Party of Korea, is reportedly carrying a letter from Kim to Trump.
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The North Korean envoy — who last June became the first high-ranking North Korean official to visit the White House in 18 years — and Pompeo may finalize the date and venue of the next summit, according to the sources.
Trump could announce his second summit with Kim Jong Un as early as Friday after meeting with Kim Yong Chol, the Washington Post reported, citing U.S. and Asian diplomats.
If announced soon, Trump and Kim Jong Un would probably meet in March or April, with Danang, Vietnam, seeming to be the most likely location, according to people familiar with the flurry of diplomatic activity over the past month, the U.S. daily said.
Reuters news agency, meanwhile, reported that Vietnam is preparing to receive Kim Jong Un on a state visit, while voicing its willingness to host the second Trump-Kim summit. Both the United States and North Korea have embassies in the country’s capital Hanoi.
Negotiations between the United States and North Korea have shown little sign of moving forward against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s skepticism about Pyongyang’s intent to give up its nuclear weapons.
At his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month in Beijing, Kim Jong Un pledged to stick to his goal of denuclearization and to achieve “results” that Trump and the international community would accept.
Reference: North Korean envoy arrives in U.S. for talks on Trump-Kim summit
