South Korea says ‘considerable’ chance Kim, Trump will meet next week

SEOUL: South Korea’s unification minister said Friday he believed there was a “considerable” chance that US President Donald Trump will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a visit to the peninsula next week.

Trump is expected in South Korea on Wednesday for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum.

US media have reported officials from his administration have privately discussed setting up a meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim, with whom he last held talks in 2019.Kim said last month he had “fond memories” of Trump and was open to talks if the United States dropped its “delusional” demand that Pyongyang give up its nuclear weapons.

Seoul on Friday urged the two leaders not to let the chance “slip away”.

“I don’t want to miss even a one percent chance,” the unification minister said.

“They need to make a decision,” Chung, whose ministry handles fraught relations with the North, added.

Kim and Trump last met in 2019 at Panmunjom in the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas — the only place where soldiers from both sides face each other on a regular basis.

North Korea appears “to be paying attention to the United States and various signs… suggest a considerable possibility of a meeting,” unification minister Chung Dong-young told reporters.