WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump suggested on Monday that his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un be held in the truce village that straddles the border separating the two Koreas.
Trump has previously listed the number of locations under consideration for the historic summit — which would be the first between a sitting US president and a leader of North Korea — but this is his first public comment on a potential site.
“Numerous countries are being considered for the MEETING, but would Peace House/Freedom House, on the Border of North & South Korea, be a more Representative, Important and Lasting site than a third party country? Just asking!” Trump tweeted.
The Peace House in Panmunjom, the truce village in the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas, was where Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met on Friday for a historic summit.
Kim, the first North Korean leader to set foot in the South since the 1953 armistice that halted the Korean War, walked with Moon to the Peace House on the southern side of the border for their meeting.
Preparations for a Trump-Kim summit have gathered momentum since the summit, which saw North and South Korea promise to pursue the complete denuclearisation of the peninsula and a permanent peace.
Seoul says North Korea has pledged to shut down its nuclear test site within weeks and invite American weapons experts to verify its closure. Kim also told Moon the North would have no need for nuclear weapons if the United States promised not to invade it, South Korean officials said.
‘Trump can have Nobel Prize’: Moon Jae-in on Monday played down the prospect of winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his historic summit with Kim Jong Un, saying Donald Trump can have it instead.
Friday’s summit between Moon and Kim has been hailed as a major step towards easing tension on the flashpoint peninsula.
It was the third summit between the two Koreas following meetings between Kim’s late father Kim Jong Il and late South Korean presidents Kim Dae-Jung and Roh Moo-Hyun, in 2000 and 2007 respectively.
Kim Dae-jung won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for his role in the first summit. His widow, in a congratulatory message sent on Monday, told Moon she hoped he could also win the prize, set to be announced in October.
“President Trump can take the Nobel prize. All we need to take is peace,” Moon said in response. — AFP
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