North Korea's Kim Jong Un Could Meet Trump In Singapore In June

The meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may take place in Singapore in mid-June, according to South Korean media reports.

Earlier there were speculations that the two leaders would meet in the demilitarized zone, or DMZ, between North and South Korea — the venue of the recent North-South Korea summit, later this month.

According to a report in South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo, the two leaders would most likely meet in Singapore in the third week of June after the G-7 summit in Canada. Trump on Friday said the date and location for the landmark summit were decided and the details would be announced soon.

"It will be very soon. I have the date. I have the location. It's all agreed to," the president told mediapersons at the White House on Friday. "We're having very substantive talks with North Korea. And a lot of things have already happened with respect to the hostages, and I think you're going to see very good things. As I said yesterday, stay tuned. I think you're going to be seeing very, very good things. And also the trip is being scheduled. We now have a day and we have a location.”

At the meeting, the two leaders are expected to discuss the issue of denuclearization of North Korea. The summit comes on the heels of the historic inter-Korea summit, where leaders of the two Koreas signed the Panmunjom Declaration on April 27, thus agreeing to work toward peace and reunification. Later, Kim announced his regime would stop nuclear and missiles tests and would scrap its test sites.

Though the North had in the past sought withdrawal of U.S. troops stationed in South Korea as a condition to give up its nuclear weapons, it recently dropped the demand. However, Trump had, on several occasions, said he wanted a complete or partial withdrawal of the troops. On May 3, he apparently told the Pentagon to chart out options for a drawdown of forces in the peninsula. But, Trump later said he was not considering the move “at this moment" and said it is not up for negotiation ahead of his meeting with Kim.

Meanwhile, South Korea said it will have close consultations with the United States regarding the Washington-Pyongyang summit during the upcoming bilateral talks. South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet Trump in Washington on May 22.

After a meeting with national security adviser John Bolton, Chung Eui-yong, South Korea’s National Security Office Director, said: "We had in-depth discussions on ways to make the summit between the U.S. and North Korea successful. To that end, the South Korean and U.S. presidents are planning to have close consultations in Washington in mid-May."