US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un were able to hold a third meeting on the inter-Korean border last month due to their sincere trust and bold will, Pyongyang’s propaganda outlet Maeari said Wednesday.
Highlighting close relationship between Kim and Trump, Maeari noted that the top-level encounter in the Demilitarized Zone occurred just a day after the US president made a request by simplifying complex diplomatic protocol that typically takes weeks and months to prepare leaders’ meeting.
In a photo taken on July 1, people read a newspaper showing coverage of a meeting between US president Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, near the Kaeson Cinema in Pyongyang. (AFP-Yonhap)
“Whatever the past might be, if we have genuine respect and trust in the other and a strong will to create new relations and new history, a historic event which cannot be imaginable even in a dream can take place,” Meari said.
On June 30, Trump became the first sitting US president to set foot in North Korean territory, nearly seven decades after the 1950-53 Korean War was halted in an armistice.
The historic scene of the US and North Korean leaders crossing the line of division showed the beginning of a new history of reconciliation and peace at the truce village of Panmunjom, which holds long-standing discord and conflict, it said.
At the meeting, Trump and Kim agreed to resume working-level dialogue in July. Denuclearization talks have been stalled since their second summit in Vietnam ended without an agreement in late February.
Meanwhile, the US State Department said Tuesday that US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun has no plans to meet with North Korean officials during his trip to Europe this week.
Beigun’s visit to Germany on Wednesday and Thursday, which coincides with his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon’s scheduled trip to the European country, sparked speculations that they may hold a meeting with North Korean officials.
“There is no plan to meet with North Korean officials on this trip,” department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said during a press briefing.
By Park Han-na (hnpark@heraldcorp.com)