Trump and Kim should meet again before US polls: Moon

SEOUL • South Korean President Moon Jae-in has said US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un should meet again before the US presidential election in November, a Seoul official told reporters yesterday.

Mr Moon's remarks were made during a videoconference with European Council President Charles Michel on Tuesday, during which he said another Trump-Kim summit would help restart stalled nuclear negotiations.

"I believe there's a need for North Korea and the United States to try dialogue one more time before the US presidential election," a presidential official quoted Mr Moon as saying.

"The issues of nuclear programmes and sanctions will ultimately have to be resolved through North Korea-US talks."

Mr Moon's office had conveyed such views to Washington and the officials there are making efforts to resume talks, the South Korean official said.

Mr Trump and Mr Kim met for the first time in 2018 in Singapore, raising hopes of an agreement to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear arms programme. But their second summit, in Vietnam early last year, fell apart. They met again at the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas in June last year and agreed to restart negotiations, but working-level talks between the two sides in Sweden in October were broken off.

Inter-Korea tensions flared last month after the North blew up a joint liaison office, severed hotlines and threatened military action over plans by defector groups in the South to send anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border. However, following weeks of heated words, Mr Kim suspended the military plans, without specifying why.

Pyongyang's moves were seen as aimed at recapturing the attention of Mr Trump and making a renewed push for sanctions relief before the November election, experts said.

On Monday, US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun, who led working-level talks with the North Koreans, said there is still time for both sides to re-engage and "make substantial progress".

Mr Biegun, however, said an in-person summit would be difficult before the November election, citing the coronavirus pandemic which has all but wiped the world's diplomatic calendar clean.

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 02, 2020, with the headline Trump and Kim should meet again before US polls: Moon. Subscribe