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Officials of the United States now in North Korea to hold talks on preparations for a possible summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.
A US newspaper published a report about their visit after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his commitment hold meeting with Trump, reports Reuters on Sunday.
The Washington Post, citing a person familiar with the arrangements, said Sung Kim, a former US ambassador to South Korea and former nuclear negotiator with the North, was leading the preparations on the US side.
He crossed into North Korean territory with Allison Hooker, the Korea expert on the White House National Security Council.
They met with Choe Son Hui, the North Korean vice foreign minister, the Post said.
Pentagon official Randall Schriver is also in Seoul currently, the Post said.
The meetings are expected to continue on Monday and Tuesday and are focused on the issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, it said.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said earlier that he and North Korea’s Kim agreed at a surprise meeting on Saturday that the possible North Korea-US summit must be held, Moon told a news conference in Seoul.
Kim reaffirmed his commitment to “complete” denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and to a planned meeting with Trump, Moon told a news conference in Seoul.
The meeting was the latest dramatic turn in a week of diplomatic ups and downs surrounding the prospects for an unprecedented summit between the United States and North Korea, and the strongest sign yet that the leaders of the two Koreas are trying to keep the on-again off-again meeting on track.
Trump said on Saturday he was still looking at a June 12 date for a summit in Singapore and that talks were progressing very well.
A White House team will leave as scheduled for Singapore this weekend to prepare for the possible summit, a White House spokeswoman said on Saturday.