South Korea’s president called for more ��impromptu talks with his North Korean counterpart in the lead-up to the expected historic summit next month between Kim Jong Un and President Trump, according to a report Monday.
President Moon Jae-in sat with Kim in a surprise meeting Saturday in the border village of Panmunjom and said the North Korean leader has agreed to the need for denuclearization of the peninsula and to the talks with Trump.
“What’s more important than anything from the latest inter-Korean summit was that the leaders easily got in contact, easily made an appointment and easily met to discuss urgent matters, without complicated procedures and formalities, just like a casual meeting,” Moon said Monday, according to Reuters.
Trump last week said he was pulling out of the scheduled June 12 meeting in Singapore, citing North Korea’s “open hostility,” but then said the talks could still happen.
A delegation of United States envoys met with North Korean officials Sunday in Panmunjom to work out details of the summit. Those meetings are expected to continue into Tuesday.
Another “pre-advance” team is heading to Singapore to meet with North Koreans, the White House said.
Sung Kim, a former ambassador to South Korea who has also negotiated with North Korea over its weapons program, is heading the US team in the Hermit Kingdom.
“It’s a good thing to have him on board,” a former senior South Korean official who has worked with him told Reuters. “He’s capable, level-headed, cautious, and has solid grasp of the issues and knows North Koreans well. But at the same time he has healthy skepticism.”
The delegation met with North Korea’s vice foreign minister Choe Son Hui, who sparked Trump’s ire last week when she called Vice President Mike Pence a “political dummy.”