President Trump is meeting Friday with a top North Korean official, the White House said, as plans for a second nuke summit take shape.
Mr. Trump is meeting at the White House with Kim Yong-chol, the vice chairman of North Korea’s ruling communist party and the lead negotiator in denuclearization talks, said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
“They will discuss relations between the two countries and continued progress on North Korea’s final, fully verified denuclearization,” she said.
Mr. Kim is believed to have a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Arrangements are being made for a second summit between Mr. Trump and Kim Jong-un, with the location and date yet to be announced.
The follow-up to the historic summit last year in Singapore likely will not take place until the spring, according to reports.
Mr. Trump used tough economic sanctions to bring North Korea to the negotiating table, and the sanctions have remained in place as the administration pushes for a complete and verifiable end to the Pyonyang’s nuclear weapons programs.
At the Singapore summit, which was the first time a U.S. president sat down with North Korea’s leader, a general agreement was struck for denuclearizing the North.
Since then, the U.S. canceled military exercises it frequently conducts with South Korea that Pyongyang considered provocative.
North Korea returned the remains of U.S. soldiers missing in action since the Korean War ended in 1953, as Mr. Kim promised at the Singapore summit.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.