Kim Jong-Un, Moon Jae-In Discuss U.S.Summit At Saturday Meeting
In a surprise weekend meeting, North Korean leader, Kim Jong-Un met with South Korean President Moon Jae-In on Saturday. According to a report by the Washington Post, the meeting took place at the border village of Panmunjom, where the duo met for the first time in April.
From the looks of it, the meeting went well, as the pair released photographs of them shaking hands and giving each other a warm hug.
The Korean leaders met for two hours and figured out ways to make the U.S.-North Korea summit a success. The two leaders discussed the details of the U.S.-North Korea summit, which was called off by President Donald Trump on Thursday. It was South Korea that brokered the talks between Pyongyang and Washington. Even President Moon Jae-In did not expect Trump to call off the meeting. President Trump and Kim Jong-Un were scheduled to meet in Singapore on June 12.
According to reports, Trump called off the meeting with Kim Jong-Un because of a statement issued by Choe Son-Hui, a North Korean diplomat, who called Vice-President Trump a “political dummy.”
In an interview with Fox News, Pence warned Kim Jong-Un that if he does not clinch a deal with the U.S., North Korea may end up like Libya, whose leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed in an uprising years after giving up atomic weapons. Choe said that North Korea will not submit to threats by the U.S.
North Korea's Kim Jong Un holds surprise meeting with South Korean president to discuss peace commitments. https://t.co/VIyPKKR5Dx
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 26, 2018
“We will neither beg the U.S. for dialogue nor take the trouble to persuade them if they do not want to sit together with us,” she said.
In her statement, Choe Son-Hui said that North Korea will not think twice about walking away from the deal if the United States tries “unlawful and outrageous acts.”
Much ahead of Choe Son-Hui’s warning, Kim Kye-Gwan, North Korea’s first foreign minister threatened to scrap the summit if the U.S. forces North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons.
“Whether the U.S. will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at a nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent on the decision and the behavior of the United States,” Choe said, according to a report by the Telegraph, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that he is hopeful that the meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-Un would take place as planned.
At the meeting, Kim Jong-Un and Moon Jae-In also spoke about the implementation of the inter-Korean agreement, “Panmunjom Declaration.”
South Korean President #MoonJaein and top leader of the DPRK #KimJongUn held their second summit to exchange opinions on implementing the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration, and on how to hold a successful DPRK-U.S. summit in Panmunjom Saturday afternoon. https://t.co/PXvAizwnHJ pic.twitter.com/dfZnmJqemF
— CGTN Radio (@CGTNRadio) May 26, 2018
