North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is hoping for a second summit with US President Donald Trump soon, the South's President Moon Jae-in said Thursday after a three-day trip to his neighbor.
"Chairman Kim Jong Un expressed hopes for a second summit with President Trump at an early date," Moon told reporters on his return to Seoul.
The North Korean leader is willing to take faster steps on denuclearization if the U.S. guarantees his regime’s safety, Moon said, adding that Kim has a message for Trump that hasn’t been disclosed in any agreements.
“A second U.S.-North Korea summit could bring a breakthrough to the impasse,” Moon told reporters in Seoul. The next meeting between Trump and Kim should seek to produce a timeline for denuclearization, he said.
Kim and Trump held a historic and high-profile meeting in Singapore in June, where the North's leader committed to work towards denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, but no details were agreed.
Washington and Pyongyang have subsequently sparred over what that means and how it will be achieved, with the Trump administration consistently referring to the denuclearization of North Korea specifically.
The process had become deadlocked until Moon's trip to Pyongyang, where Kim agreed to permanently dismantle a missile testing site.
Experts were skeptical but the Trump administration immediately welcomed the move, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo inviting his North Korean counterpart to meet next week on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Kim wants Pompeo to visit Pyongyang so the two sides can resume talks over the regime’s nuclear weapons, Moon said, noting that Kim is seeking "fast progress in denuclearization."
Pompeo on Wednesday had called for a new round of talks with the goal of ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons by the end of Trump’s first term, saying he was heartened by progress made at the inter-Korean summit.
Material from AFP and Bloomberg was used in this report.
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