Trump-Kim Summit to take place in Singapore in June

THE highly anticipated meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un will take place in Singapore in mid-June, according to South Korean media.

کد خبر: ۷۹۶۷۲۷

تاریخ: ۱۷ ارديبهشت ۱۳۹۷ - ۰۹:۱۶

There has been much speculation over the location of historic summit. While Trump has reportedly expressed a desire to meet in the demilitarised zone between North and South – a highly symbolic area used for last month’s inter-Korea Summit – the two sides have settled on Singapore as neutral territory, unnamed sources told the Chosun newspaper, as reported by South China Morning Post.

Trump told reporters on Friday that arrangements for the meeting had been set but didn’t elaborate any further.

“It will be very soon. I have the date. I have the location. It’s all agreed to,” the president said.

The date is reportedly set for the third week of June to avoid the G7 Summit in Canada on June 8 and 9, which Trump will be expected to attend.

The summit will be the first time a sitting US president will meet with a leader of the North Korean regime. The meeting comes weeks after an April 27 intern-Korean summit between South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in and Kim was deemed a success.

Both sides signed the Panmunjom Declaration, agreeing to work towards denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and to usher in a “new era of peace.”

Moon will continue to play a role in negotiations. He will travel to Washington on May 22 to discuss the approach to the Kim-Trump meeting.

Trump has vowed to maintain his approach of “maximum pressure” on the North in the lead up to the talks, claiming they are the reason behind Pyongyang coming to the negotiating table.

However, North Korean media on Sunday claimed the US-led sanctions had nothing to do with their pledge to denuclearise and warned the White House against “misleading public opinion.”

Besides Singapore, analysts have speculated that the venue for the Trump-Kim meeting could also be Mongolia, which Kim could travel to by bulletproof train.

Trump has also warned previously that he could call off the meeting altogether if he does not feel it would be “fruitful.”