Trump: N. Korea team moves to Washington to give him letter from Kim, Latest World News - The New Paper
World

Trump: N. Korea team moves to Washington to give him letter from Kim

This article is more than 12 months old

Envoys will deliver a letter from North Korean leader to US President

A North Korean delegation in New York for talks will travel to Washington today to deliver a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, US President Donald Trump said.

In brief remarks to reporters at an airbase outside Washington as the US and North Korean teams began a morning of talks in New York, Mr Trump said their dinner meeting on Wednesday had gone "well".

But it did not mean everything would get done in one meeting on June 12, he added.

"Maybe we have to have a second or a third. And maybe we will have none. But it is in good hands," he said.

Steak, corn, cheese and nuclear weapons were on the dinner menu in New York, where Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sat down with Mr Kim's right-hand man Kim Yong Chol.

The general and former spy chief arrived in New York on an Air China flight from Beijing, becoming the most senior North Korean official to visit the US in almost two decades.

THIRD MEETING

It was his third meeting with Mr Pompeo, who visited Pyongyang twice in recent weeks.

Photos showed Mr Pompeo pointing out Manhattan landmarks from the US diplomatic residence on a high floor of The Corinthian condominium, a few blocks from the United Nations.

At stake is what each side is prepared to commit at a Trump-Kim summit in Singapore.

Joining Mr Pompeo for the talks were Mr Andrew Kim, head of the Korean desk at the Central Intelligence Agency; Mr Mark Lambert, a deputy assistant secretary of state and special representative for North Korea; and a translator.

"The potential summit... presents (North Korea) with a great opportunity to achieve security and economic prosperity," Mr Pompeo tweeted ahead of the meeting.

Earlier, a senior State Department official told journalists in New York: "If we are going to have a summit, they're going to have to make clear what they're willing to do... In all of our... messaging, we have been clear that what we are looking for is… complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearisation."

For the summit to be successful, "the North Koreans have to do things that they have not done before", he said.

"We are willing to work with them to provide them the security guarantees they feel they need. And in fact, we are willing to go beyond that to help them have greater economic prosperity," he said. "But they have to denuclearise."

Meanwhile, US and North Korean officials continued talks at the truce village of Panmunjom on the North-South border on the Korean peninsula.

WORLD