After months of threats, North Korea, US to discuss denuclearization
After a year of exchanging bellicose threats, North Korea now wishes to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula with the US. The officials of the two nations have secretly established "direct contact" multiple times and Pyongyang has confirmed its willingness to host a meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump sometime in May, reported Reuters. Here's more.
No concrete details disclosed about the impending meet yet
It's still not clear what North Korea means by denuclearization, which the US essentially views as it giving up its nuclear program. Moreover, Pyongyang is yet to make an announcement about the summit, a first between an American president and a North Korean leader. Several crucial details, such as the dates, the venue or the channels of communication between the two nations, remain unknown.
Trump wants to talk it out with Kim Jong-un
Until the talks of the unprecedented summit, the US had primarily relied on ally South Korea to assess Kim's intentions. South Korean envoys visited Washington in March to extend Kim's invitation to Trump, who, in a move that surprised the world, accepted, to discuss Pyongyang's developing nuclear weapons which could potentially destroy the US.
Kim's win?
North Korea has said it could abandon its nuclear arsenal if the US pulled out its troops from South Korea, and its nuclear propaganda from South Korea and Japan. However, some analysts have slammed Trump's willingness to meet Kim, saying it gives North Korea a diplomatic win since the US had repeatedly insisted that a summit would be possible only after North Korea's denuclearization.
