White House mulls new Trump-Kim meeting after receiving 'very warm' letter

U.S. President DonaldTrump received a "very warm, very positive" letter from NorthKorean leader Kim Jong-un asking for a second meeting, and theWhite House is looking at scheduling one, White HousespokespersonSarah Huckabee Sanders said on Monday.

The two countries have been discussing North Korea's nuclearprograms since their leaders met in Singapore in June,although that summit's outcome was criticized for being short onconcrete details about how and whether Kim is willing to give upweapons that threaten the United States.

The likely timing of a second Trump-Kim meeting was unclear.

South KoreanPresident Moon Jae-in is scheduled to have histhird summit with Kim next week in Pyongyang, and his governmenthad pushed for a three-way summit involving Trump, with the aimof agreeing a joint declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War.

The conflict ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty,leaving the U.S.-led United Nations forces including South Koreatechnically still at war with North Korea.

While South Korea had hoped an accord formally ending theconflict could have been unveiled on the sidelines of the UNGeneral Assembly later this month, Moon's security chief, ChungEui-yong, said last week, without elaborating, that the necessaryconditions for a three-way meeting were missing.

Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, has also saidhe did not believe Kim would attend such a gathering.

Denuclearizationissue

Hopes of progress were revived, however, after Trump toldreporters on Friday that a personal letter from Kim was on the way.

"It was a very warm, very positive letter," Sanders said atMonday's briefing.

"The primary purpose of the letter was to request and lookto schedule another meeting with the president, which we are opento and are already in the process of co-ordinating that," shesaid.

Sanders told reporters the letter exhibited "a continuedcommitment to focus on denuclearization of the peninsula."

She said a military parade in Pyongyang on Sunday was "asign of good faith" because it did not feature any long-rangemissiles.

In South Korea, officials nurtured hope that next week'sinter-Korean summit could provide renewed momentum to nuclearnegotiations, after last month's setback when Trump cancelled avisit to Pyongyang by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo due to alack of progress.

'Take bold decisions'

South Korea's president is expected to present someproposal to Kim suggestingphased steps toward denuclearizationand U.S. security guarantees,including an official end to theKorean War. Moon could then discuss the idea when he meets Trumpduring the UNGeneral Assembly meeting in New York later thismonth, South Korean officials said.

Trump asked Moon to act as "chief negotiator" betweenWashington and Pyongyang during their phone call last week,Moon's spokesperson,Kim Eui-kyeom, told reporters.

"In order for us to move toward the next level ofdismantling North Korea's existing nuclear weapons, the leaders of North Korea and the United States once again must have bigideas and take bold decisions," Moon told a cabinet meeting onTuesday.

"North Korea should abolish its nuclear programs, and theUnited States foster such conditions with corresponding action."

The nuclear envoys of South Korea and the United States alsoheld a meeting on Tuesday as part of efforts to jumpstartstalled nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington.

There are reasons for optimism.- Harry Kazianis, Centre for the National Interest

Lee Do-hoon, South Korea's nuclear negotiator, toldreporters that he and his U.S. counterpart, Stephen Biegun, discussed how to bring progress on the North's denuclearizationand establishing peace on the Korean peninsula.

"We take this very seriously, the responsibility that is onboth of us," Biegun told Lee at the start of the talks.

"But we also have a tremendous opportunity created byPresident Trump, by President Moon and by Chairman Kim. We needto do everything we can to make the most of this moment of opportunity."

Harry Kazianis, director of defence studies from the Centrefor the National Interest, a think-tank in Washington reckonedTrump was right to pursue a second meeting with the NorthKorean leader.

"When you combine Kim's pledge to denuclearize by the end ofTrump's first term, as well as not displaying any long-rangeballistic missiles during the north's recent 70th anniversarycelebrations, there are reasons for optimism," he said.