When will Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un meet and what will they discuss?
North Korean officials will be pushing for US President to come to Pyongyang but it's more likely the leaders will meet in the demilitarised zone between the North and South
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Your support makes all the difference.A meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will take place by May, according to South Korean officials.
The extraordinary turn of events follows months of rising tensions and nuclear posturing between the two countries.
It will be the first face-to-face meeting to occur between a sitting US President and North Korean leader in history.
Mr Trump said last May that he would be willing to meet with Mr Kim “under the right circumstances” but he insisted sanctions against the secretive communist state would stay intact.
Since then the pair have traded insults and North Korea has launched a series of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. In September the country conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date.
Now that the leaders have agreed to meet, the world’s attention will focus on whether the stalemate between the two nations can be resolved.
Where will they meet?
Mr Kim has not left North Korea since he took office so it is likely that officials will push for Mr Trump to go to Pyongyang. The US would undoubtedly prefer Washington.
A reception in Europe or China could also be proposed, but unless the countries agree to a third-country location, which would likely be South Korea, experts see it as more likely that Mr Trump will fly to the North Korea capital.
Mr Trump might be willing to do so, because it would fit the strong-willed, in-your-face type of leadership he tries to project, said Hong Min, an analyst at Seoul's Korea Institute for National Unification.
However the security situation in the North Korean capital might make a meeting there difficult.
It is possible the leaders will meet in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea - in the Panmunjom DMZ border complex.
South Korea’s foreign minister said her government is consulting with the US on the planned summit between the leaders.
What will they discuss?
Mr Trump has “been very clear from the beginning” that he will not reward North Korea for talks and will only accept the permanent denuclearisation of the country, according to a White House spokesperson.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Mr Trump made the decision to meet with Mr Kim due to how “forward-leaning” he had been in his conversations with South Korea.
Mr Tillerson said Mr Trump made the decision “himself” after determining the time was right for “talks” — but not formal negotiations.
South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said if the summit does take place, it will ensure “it’s a meaningful meeting with good outcome.”
When will it happen?
It is unclear when the meeting will take place but Mr Tillerson said it will take “some weeks” to arrange the timing for their meeting.
A summit between Mr Kim and South Korea’s president in a Korean border village is planned at the end of April.
It is believed Mr Trump’s meeting with Kim would likely be held sometime in May.
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