White House announces 2nd Trump-Kim summit for February

World Today

It was a The White House says there will be a second Trump-Kim summit next month.

That was announced after Pyongyang’s top negotiator met with the U.S. President in Washington. CGTN’s Nathan King reports tells us more about those talks.

It was a visit wrapped in secrecy, with photographers and journalists kept away. But after a ninety-minute meeting in the Oval Office, between U.S. President Donald Trump and DPRK envoy Kim Yong Chol, came the announcement that there will be a second summit between US President Trump and the leader of the DPRK Kim Jong Un.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders issued a short statement that raised more questions than answers. When will summit happen? “Near the end of February,” it read.

Where? “…at a place to be announced at a later date.”

The statement did not detail any policy items to be raised at the summit either.

Sanders did appear in front of the cameras a little later. She insisted that sanctions would remain on Pyongyang until they had completely and verifiably denuclearized. That was similar to the language used last year before the first summit between Trump and Kim which, while historic and a valuable test of personal diplomacy, had failed to produce concrete results.

In his new year’s message, Kim Jong-Un said he was willing to meet Trump again but also willing to take a “different path” if the U.S. won’t make concessions in return for the denuclearization pledge.

Concessions could include a formal end to Korean War; full diplomatic relations; economic aid; or even the U.S. pulling out troops from South Korea, something Trump has talked about.

For Washington, the list of asks is just as long. They have yet to receive an inventory of the DPRK’s nuclear and missile capabilities. And while U.S. President Trump often touts the lack of Nuclear and missile tests over the last year experts warn Pyongyang can still make progress without tests.

The second summit looms as do the deep divisions that have dogged U.S.-DPRK relations for decades.


Myung-koo Kang on the stalled progress of US-DPRK diplomacy

CGTN’s Mike Walter spoke with Myung-koo Kang, professor of Political Science at Baruch College. They discussed the stall in U.S.-DPRK diplomacy and today’s announcement about the next Trump-Kim summit.