South Korea’s spy agency believes there is a strong possibility that North Korea and the United States will hold a summit, suggesting Pyongyang may seek a meeting after March, a lawmaker said.
US President Donald Trump repeatedly requested a meeting with reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his trip to South Korea last week, but Kim did not respond to the requests.
“The NIS (National Intelligence Service) sees that there is a high chance of a summit between the US and North Korea,” lawmaker Park Sun-won told reporters after a parliamentary audit of the intelligence body.
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Park said North Korea was reviewing operational-level Trump administration officials responsible for North Korean affairs.
According to him, the NIS believes the North may pursue a summit between Trump and Kim in March, following a flurry of events such as joint military exercises between South Korea and the US, the North’s military parade and the party congress early next year.
North Korean leader Kim said he would be willing to talk to the United States if Washington drops denuclearization demands.
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Trump told reporters last week while visiting South Korea ahead of an APEC summit that “we will come back and at some point in the not-too-distant future we will meet with North Korea.”
“US policy toward North Korea has not changed. President Trump remains open to talks with Kim Jong Un without any preconditions. We have no meetings to announce at this time,” a White House official told Reuters.
Trump and Kim held summits in 2018 and 2019 before talks broke down over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons arsenal. North Korea is under heavy international sanctions over these weapons, as well as its ballistic missiles.
Kim did not appear to have any serious health problems following suggestions that he may be suffering from high blood pressure, Park said.
Kim Ju Ae, the North Korean leader’s teenage daughter, is solidifying her position as a likely successor but has kept a low profile over the past 60 days, the lawmaker said. She was thrust into the media spotlight when she accompanied her father on a visit to China in early September.
