{"id":60562,"date":"2018-03-13T06:08:52","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T06:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=60562"},"modified":"2018-03-13T06:08:52","modified_gmt":"2018-03-13T06:08:52","slug":"white-house-expects-north-korea-summit-to-happen-despite-pyongyangs-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/world-news\/white-house-expects-north-korea-summit-to-happen-despite-pyongyangs-silence.html","title":{"rendered":"White House expects North Korea summit to happen despite Pyongyang’s silence"},"content":{"rendered":"

White House expects North Korea summit to happen despite Pyongyang’s silence<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

The White House said on Monday it fully expected an unprecedented meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to take place, if North Korea stuck to its promises, even though Pyongyang has yet to comment publicly on the possibility of a summit.<\/span><\/p>\n

A South Korean delegation that visited North Korea last week said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed a wish to meet Trump and South Korea\u2019s president to discuss denuclearization. North Korean media have reported the South Korean visit, but no details of the talks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked if the North Korean silence meant there was a chance the meeting between Trump and Kim would not take place, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said:\u201cWe fully expect that it will.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe offer was made and we\u2019ve accepted. North Korea made several promises and we hope that they would stick to those promises and if so the meeting will go on as planned,\u201d she told a regular briefing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier, South Korea said North Korea\u2019s silence on summits with both the United States and South Korea was probably because of caution in preparing for the meetings, while U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Washington expected to hear directly from Pyongyang.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have not seen nor received an official response from the North Korean regime regarding the North Korea-U.S. summit,\u201d said Baik Tae-hyun, spokesman for South Korea\u2019s Unification ministry.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel they\u2019re approaching this matter with caution and they need time to organise their stance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Tillerson said several steps would be necessary to agree on the location and scope of the talks, adding later that a\u201cneutral\u201d site would be needed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very early stages. We\u2019ve not heard anything directly back from North Korea but we expect to hear something directly from them,\u201d he said during a visit to Nigeria.<\/span><\/p>\n

In an unexpected move last week, Trump agreed to hold a first-ever meeting with Kim, which South Korea said would take place by the end of May after a North-South summit in April.<\/span><\/p>\n

News of possible talks has been a dramatic turnaround from fears of war over North Korea\u2019s development of nuclear-tipped missiles capable of hitting the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump made the announcement after the head of a South Korean delegation that met Kim last week said the North Korean leader had committed to denuclearization and pledged to refrain from nuclear and missile tests.<\/span><\/p>\n

Asked in a Fox News interview due to air on Monday evening whether there was a real possibility of North Korea denuclearizing, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said:\u201cWe\u2019ll see, as the president often says.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But Pence called Kim\u2019s offers to cease missile and nuclear testing while not objecting to U.S.-South Korean military exercises\u201ca remarkable step forward\u201d and a result of Trump\u2019s tough approach.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s marshalled unprecedented economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime in North Korea and this breakthrough – and we hope it is a breakthrough – is a result of the strong leadership the president has provided on the world stage,\u201d Pence said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet at the truce village of Panmunjom straddling the Korean border, but a venue for the North Korea-U.S. summit has yet to be decided.<\/span><\/p>\n

CHINA URGES PATIENCE<\/span>
\nU.S. national security adviser H.R. McMaster briefed U.N. Security Council envoys in New York on Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe all agreed that we\u2019re optimistic about this opportunity, but we\u2019re determined, we\u2019re determined to keep up the campaign of maximum pressure until we see words matched with deeds and a real progress toward denuclearization,\u201d McMaster said.<\/span><\/p>\n

South Korean U.N. Ambassador Cho Tae-yul, who attended the McMaster briefing, described the plans for talks with North Korea as a\u201conce in a lifetime opportunity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The South Korean officials who met Kim travelled to Washington last week to relay his message and visited China on Monday to brief President Xi Jinping, who urged patience.<\/span><\/p>\n

South Korea\u2019s National Security Office chief, Chung Eui-yong, who led the delegation to Pyongyang, will head to Russia on Tuesday, while spy agency chief Suh Hoon met Japan\u2019s foreign minister in Tokyo, where he is to speak with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Beijing on Monday, Xi told Chung there was an important opportunity for talks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, all sides must exercise patience and be attentive, and show political wisdom, to appropriately face and dispel any problems and interference to resuming the talks process,\u201d state media cited Xi as saying.<\/span><\/p>\n

Xi said China looked forward to smooth talks between the two Koreas and between the United States and North Korea and substantive progress in the denuclearization process and normalization of ties.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tensions eased as the Koreas held talks against the backdrop of the Winter Olympics in South Korea last month, but Japan has expressed scepticism and warned that\u201ctalks for the sake of talks\u201d would be unacceptable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said after talks with Suh Hoon that Tokyo and Seoul agreed that maximum pressure must be maintained on North Korea until it takes concrete action to address concerns about its weapons programmes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kono declined to say what that action should be, but South Korea\u2019s presidential Blue House quoted him as saying that the breakthrough on talks with North Korea was a near\u201cmiracle\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Geneva, the U.N. investigator on North Korea told the world body\u2019s Human Rights Council that any progress in the nuclear and security dialogue must be accompanied by talks on human rights violations, including political prison camps.<\/span><\/p>\n

North Korea\u2019s state media have lauded the thaw in relations with South Korea. It has continued to warn the United States and Japan against war-mongering, but its rhetoric has been tame compared with threats exchanged at the height of tensions last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-northkorea-missiles-southkorea-minist\/white-house-expects-north-korea-summit-to-happen-despite-pyongyangs-silence-idUSKCN1GO06N<\/span><\/p>\n

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