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

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Seoul (AFP) – South Korea's unification minister said on Friday he believes there is a “significant” chance that US President Donald Trump will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a visit to the peninsula next week.

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

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US media reported that his administration officials were privately discussing arranging a meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim, with whom he last held talks in 2019.

North Korea appears to be “paying attention to the United States, and various signs… suggest a significant possibility of a meeting,” Unification Minister Chung Dong-yong told reporters.

Trump has said he hopes to meet with Kim again, possibly this year.

Last month, Kim said he had “pleasant memories” of Trump and was willing to negotiate if the United States dropped its “delusional” demand that Pyongyang give up its nuclear weapons.

Seoul on Friday urged the two leaders not to miss this chance.

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

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

Although no official announcement was made about the duo's meeting, South Korea and the UN command suspended tours of the Joint Security Area (JSA) from late October to early November.

Kim and Trump last met in 2019 in Panmunjom in JSA territory in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, the only place where soldiers from both sides regularly clash.

Chung said that for the first time this year, North Koreans were seen “cleaning up” the area near JSA, cleaning, pulling weeds, tidying up flower beds and taking photographs.

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Kim met with Trump three times at high-profile summits during the US leader's first term.

The duo's latest and impromptu meeting in Panmunjom was hastily arranged after Trump extended an invitation to Kim on Twitter the day before.

The event saw the two leaders shake hands over the concrete slabs separating North and South before Trump walked a few steps into Pyongyang, becoming the first U.S. president ever to set foot in North Korea.

But negotiations over how much of its nuclear arsenal the North was willing to give up and what Pyongyang would get in return ultimately failed.

In August, Trump praised his relationship with Kim and said he knew him “almost better than anyone except his sister.”

During Trump's trip to South Korea, he is expected to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

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