North Korean leader Kim Jong Un invited U.S. President Donald Trump to visit Pyongyang in a letter sent in August amid stalled denuclearization talks, a South Korean newspaper reported on Monday, citing diplomatic sources.
Kim, in the letter sent in the third week of August, spoke of his “willingness” for a third summit and extended an invitation for Trump to visit the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, the Joongang Ilbo newspaper reported, citing an unidentified source.
Trump on Aug. 9 said he had received a “very beautiful letter” from Kim.
But U.S. officials have not said anything about a second letter in August.
Trump and Kim have met three times since June last year to discuss ways to resolve a crisis over North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, but substantive progress has been scant.
Their first two meetings were formal summits, the second of which, in Vietnam in February, broke down after they failed to narrow a gap between U.S. demands for North Korean denuclearization and a North Korean demand for relief from sanctions.
They met for a third time on June 30 in the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas and agreed to restart working-level talks but that has not happened.
Since the June meeting, North Korea has several times tested short-range projectiles.
The White House and the North Korean mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report. The U.S. State Department referred queries to the White House.
‘THREATS AND HURDLES’
An unidentified director-general for U.S. affairs at North Korea’s foreign ministry said on Monday he hoped a “good meeting” with working-level U.S. officials would take place “in a few weeks.”
But whether a meeting would lead to a “crisis or chance” was up to the United States, the official said, calling for a more flexible approach.
“The discussion of denuclearization may be possible when threats and hurdles endangering our system security and obstructing our development are clearly removed beyond all doubt,” the official said in a statement carried by North Korea’s official KCNA news agency.
A spokeswoman for the State Department said the United States welcomed the North Korean commitment to resume negotiations in late September, but it had no meetings to announce.
“We are prepared to have those discussions at a time and place to be agreed,” she said. The spokeswoman did not respond when asked if the United States was willing to offer any easing of sanctions or security guarantees.
North Korea’s vice foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, said last week Pyongyang was willing to have “comprehensive discussions” late this month.
Trump subsequently said he would be willing to meet Kim at some point this year.
South Korea’s foreign minister, Kang Kyung-wha, asked about the newspaper report, said there were “detailed explanations about such a letter” but declined to elaborate.
Kang said it could be “too much to expect” that Trump and Kim would meet before any working-level talks.FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, South Korea, June 30, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo/File Photo
“No agreement was reached between the two leaders in Hanoi even after working-level negotiations,” Kang told a parliamentary panel.
“For the sake of the success of another summit, their working-level teams should meet and have primary discussions on the outcome of the summit,” Kang said.
Reporting by Jack Kim and Hyonhee Shin; Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols in NEW YORK and David Brunnstrom and Arshad Mohammed in WASHINGTON; Editing by Robert Birsel and Andrea Ricci
SEOUL (Reuters) –
