Following President Trump’s abrupt cancellation of the highly-anticipated U.S-Korea Summit last Thursday over what he called “tremendous anger and open hostility” towards the U.S.by the North Koreans, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un scrambled to salvage the cancelled summit and first-time ever face-to-face meeting between a seating U.S President and a North Korean dictator.
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In addition to the NOKO leaders sending a written response to the U.S. expressing an interest in the continuation of diplomatic talks and negotiations, a secret meeting between South Korea’s Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un took place on Friday at the North’s demilitarized zone (DMZ).
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (L) and South Korean President Moon Jae-in on their first meeting at a border village of Panmunjom, across the South’s Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on April 27, 2018. Credit: AP/Korean Summit Press
The meeting between the two leaders of the Koreas was the second following their first summit on April 27 on the South Korean side of the DMZ.
The meeting described by Moon as “without any formality” and likened to “a normal routine between friends” was said to have been requested by Jong Un. According to sources, the meeting seemed to push forward the summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) is the U.S. top diplomat engaged in high stakes diplomatic talks and negotiations with North Korea on the U.S-Korea Summit. Credit: AP/Andrew Harnik
The meeting seemed to push forward momentum for a summit between Trump and Kim to take place, which would be the first time a sitting U.S. president would meet with a North Korean leader.
In a statement released on Sunday, KCNA, North Korea’s state run media, KCNA, said Kim Jong Un “expressed his fixed will” to meet with President Trump, the outcome of which could determine the fate of the two Koreas – such as finally ending the Korean War which ended with an armistice in 1953 and possibly reunification.
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