North Korea eyeing second summit with US in Switzerland

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pauses while speaking to members of the media following two days of meetings with Kim Yong Chol, a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief, before boarding his plane at Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang on July 7, 2018. Pompeo held talks in an elegant Pyongyang guest house for a second day with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s right-hand man Kim Yong Chol. (Pool photo by ANDREW HARNIK / AFP)

SEOUL — Kyodo News reported that a team of North Korean diplomats had been sent to Geneva, Bern and Davos to look at conference halls and hotels as potential venues for its denuclearization talks with the United States.

North Korea is looking for a place in Switzerland to hold its second summit with the US, according to a Japanese news report on Friday.

Citing multiple diplomatic sources, Kyodo News reported that a team of North Korean diplomats has been sent to Geneva, Bern and Davos to look at conference halls and hotels as potential venues for its denuclearization talks with the US.

Pyongyang and Washington are expected to rev up talks on denuclearization and normalization of diplomatic relations following North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who arrived in Pyongyang on Friday for a two-day visit, according to Kyodo.

North Korea is planning to hold a summit with the US or multilateral negotiations with the US, South Korea and China through the remaining months of this year and next year, Kyodo said, adding that Geneva was a likely candidate to host the bilateral summit.

Kim Jong-un studied at a junior high school in Bern. Switzerland has expressed a willingness to host the talks between North Korea and the US.

As the World Economic Forum holds an annual meeting of world leaders in Davos in January, North Korea may be considering timing the denuclearization talks with the Davos forum, Kyodo said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the WEF meeting in Davos last year, and US President Donald Trump attended it this year. /atm