In this Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019, photo provided on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019 by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, meets Kim Yong Chol, who traveled to Washington to discuss denuclearization talks, in Pyongyang. The North’s Korean Central News Agency said Thursday that Kim Jong Un received a letter from U.S. President Donald Trump from the North Korean envoy who traveled to Washington and met Trump last week. North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: “KCNA” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered preparations for a second summit with President Donald Trump, saying he’ll “wait with patience and in good faith” to work toward a common goal, the North’s state media reported Thursday.
Despite Kim’s determination for another meeting with Trump, the two remain at odds over fundamental issues. Experts said a major sticking point is what denuclearization steps Kim should take to move forward stalled nuclear negotiations and what rewards Trump should provide to push Kim to take those measures.
The Korean Central News Agency said Kim received a letter from Trump from a North Korean envoy who met the U.S. president in Washington last week. After meeting Kim Yong Chol, Trump said he and Kim will probably meet around the end of February but did not say exactly when and where the summit would take place.
Thursday’s report said Kim expressed satisfaction with his envoy’s meeting with Trump and spoke highly of the U.S. President for “expressing his unusual determination and will for the settlement of the issue with a great interest in the second summit.”
“We will wait with patience and in good faith and, together with the U.S., advance step by step toward the goal to be reached by the two countries,” Kim was quoted as saying.
Kim also “set forth tasks and orientation for making good technical preparations” for the second summit high on the agenda, according to KCNA.
Nuclear negotiations have been stuck since Kim and Trump met in Singapore last June for their first summit, which ended with Kim’s vague denuclearization pledge that his government had previously used when it called for the withdrawal of the 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea. A summit accord also stated that the United States and North Korea will commit to establishing new relations and join efforts to build a lasting and stable peace on the Korean Peninsula.
The strongest step Kim could promise during a second summit may be abandoning his long-range missile program targeting the U.S. mainland. That step, if realized, would trigger a strong backlash from many in South Korea and Japan, which are within the striking distance of North Korea’s short- and medium-range missiles. In return, Kim is seeking to get U.N. sanctions lifted. He also wanted better relations with the United States to try to revive his country’s moribund economy to pave the way for a prolonged rule by his family, experts said.
North Korea observers said Vietnam is likely to be chosen as a venue for a second summit but there has been no official confirmation.
The negotiations have replaced fears of war following a series of North Korean high-profile nuclear and missile tests in 2017 that were followed by exchanges of crude insults and threats of total destruction between Kim and Trump.
Kim has so far suspended nuclear and missile tests, dismantled North Korea’s nuclear testing site and parts of its rocket engine test facility and taken conciliatory measures, like releasing American detainees. The North now says it’s time for the U.S. to come up with reciprocal measures.
But satellite footage indicated North Korea is still running its main nuclear complex, raising questions why it’s producing nuclear material if it is truly committed to denuclearization. U.S. officials want North Korea to take more significant steps such as a declared accounting of its nuclear weapons program for future inspections. The North has rejected that, saying such a declaration would be like providing coordinates for U.S. military strikes on its nuclear facilities. /kga