{NEWS ZONE} ~ TRUMP, NORTH KOREA’S KIM TO HOLD HISTORIC MEETING
Standing in front of the White House, South Korean National Security Advisor Chung Eui -yong announced the first ever meeting between a US president and North Korean leader , which he said would take place by the end of May.
Chung had recently returned from Pyongyang, where he met Kim , who , he said “ expressed his eagerness to meet President Trump as soon as possible . ”
Trump hailed “ great progress” in the push to persuade Pyongyang to end its nuclear weapons program.
“ Meeting being planned!” he tweeted . “ Kim Jong Un talked about denuclearization with the South Korean Representatives , not just a freeze . Also , no missile testing by North Korea during this period of time . ”
“ Great progress being made but sanctions will remain until an agreement is reached . ”
News of the summit is the latest step in a quickening diplomatic detente that has seen North and South Korea exchange envoys.
Pyongyang also sent a delegation to the Winter Olympics in the South , which Seoul had dubbed the “ Peace Games ” and which saw the two countries marching under a unified flag .
The thaw came after a period of extreme tension between Washington and Pyongyang that sounded like the growing drumbeat of war .
Just months ago , Trump mocked Kim by calling him “ little rocket man ” and Kim returned the favor by describing Trump as “ mentally deranged” and a “ dotard . ”
The United States and North Korea were foes throughout the Cold War and fought on opposite sides of a bloody war in the 1950s .
In the last two decades, they have been engaged in what is perhaps the world ’ s most dangerous nuclear standoff , with 30, 000 US military personnel stationed just over the border in the South .
– Paradigm shift –
Pyongyang’ s decades- long race to develop a nuclear weapon capable of hitting the continental United States has proved a problem for successive administrations .
Trump’ s strategy has been to ramp up sanctions , tighten the diplomatic screws and regularly threaten military force.
The White House said in a statement that strategy of “ maximum pressure ” would stay in place , for now .
“ We look forward to the denuclearization of North Korea. In the meantime , all sanctions and maximum pressure must remain . ”
But the prospect of a top- level meeting is a paradigm shift .
North Korean leaders have sought face - to - face talks with consecutive US presidents , who have rebuffed the idea as an effort to achieve strategic parity that does not exist .
Pyongyang now seems to have achieved its goal, while only agreeing to a temporary suspension of nuclear tests .
It is a gambit fraught with risk for Trump. On multiple occasions, Kim ’ s father Kim Jong Il dangled the prospect of talks and denuclearization as a means of buying time , easing sanctions and dividing South Korea from its allies .
However his decision also carries historic echoes of Richard Nixon’ s visit to communist China or Barack Obama’ s overture to Cuba , both of which offered the hope of better ties .
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