US & North Korea hold consultations to arrange Trump-Kim meeting

A delegation of senior North Korean officials has arrived to Singapore to discuss arrangements with their American counterparts for a possible summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, diplomatic sources told South Korean Yonhap news agency.

The US delegation, headed by White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Joe Hagin will reportedly meet Kim Chang-son, a senior official at the State Affairs Commission, as early as Tuesday to discuss security and protocol issues for the highly anticipated summit.

In parallel, another set of discussions will be taking place at the border village of Panmunjom, reportedly being led by Ambassador Sung Kim, a former chief US nuclear envoy, and North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui.

“Observers say that after the working-level talks, Kim Yong-chol, a vice central committee chairman of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo could meet for final consultations,” Yonhap reports.

The fate of the Trump-Kim summit, which was initially scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, has been hanging in the balance since Thursday when Trump canceled the talks citing a “tremendous anger and open hostility” from Pyongyang. A day later, however, the US president changed his mind and said that the meeting might eventually take place, citing “very productive talks” and North Korea’s commitment to finding a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue.