US officials in North Korea to prepare for summit

WASHINGTON: A group of US officials crossed into North Korea on Sunday for talks on preparations for a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, The Washington Post reported.

The newspaper, citing a person familiar with the arrangements, said former US Ambassador to South Korea Sung Kim was summoned from his current post in the Philippines to lead the preparations.

N Korea committed to summit and ‘complete’ denuclearisation: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his commitment to “complete” denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and to a planned meeting with US President Donald Trump, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Sunday.

In Washington, US President Donald Trump signalled that preparations for a June 12 summit with Kim were going ahead, despite having called the meeting off last week. Moon and Kim agreed at a surprise meeting on Saturday that the possible North Korea-US summit must be held, Moon told a news conference in Seoul.

“Chairman Kim and I have agreed that the June 12 summit should be held successfully, and that our quest for the Korean peninsula´s denuclearisation and a perpetual peace regime should not be halted,” Moon said.

The meeting was the latest dramatic turn in a week of diplomatic ups and downs surrounding the prospects for an unprecedented summit between the United States and North Korea, and the strongest sign yet that the two Korean leaders are trying to keep the on-again off-again meeting on track.

A statement from North Korea´s state news agency KCNA said Kim expressed “his fixed will” on the possibility of meeting Trump as previously planned. Moon, who returned to Seoul on Thursday morning after meeting Trump in Washington in a bid to keep the high-stakes US -North Korea summit on track, said he delivered a message of Trump´s “firm resolve” to end the hostile relationship with North Korea and pursue bilateral economic cooperation.

Trump said in a letter to Kim on Thursday he was cancelling the planned Singapore summit, citing North Korea´s “open hostility”.