A location for the tête-à-tête has yet to be decided, but the North Koreans are pushing to have the meeting in their capital, Pyongyang.
The U. S. is holding secret talks with North Korea as the two countries prepare for a historic meeting between President Trump and Pyongyang’s Kim Jong-un, according to a report Saturday.
Central Intelligence Agency director Mike Pompeo has been leading the effort and is expected to meet with his North Korean counterpart at some point, CNN reported .
Pompeo will also oversee diplomatic relations should he be confirmed by the Senate to replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of state.
That process will begin in the next few weeks.
A team at the CIA is operating through intelligence back-channels to shore up preparations for the summit between Trump and Kim, the officials said.
A location for the tête-à-tête has yet to be decided, but the North Koreans are pushing to have the meeting in their capital, Pyongyang.
Although the North Korean regime has not publicly declared its invitation by Kim to meet with Trump, officials tell CNN that Kim’s aides have reaffirmed the reclusive leader is willing to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
The softening stances follow a year of belligerent taunts and threats lobbed back and forth by Trump and Kim as North Korea stepped up its nuclear and missile ambitions.
The invite was initially brought to the Trump administration by a South Korean envoy.
Trump’s recent bluster about a trade war with China may play heavily in how the talks with North Korea unfold, according to data recently released by the Chinese government.
Beijing appears to have gone well beyond UN sanctions on the Kim regime — reducing its total imports from North Korea in the first two months this year by 78.5% and 86.1% in value — a decline that began in late 2017, according to the latest trade data from China.
Its exports to the North also dropped by 33% to 34% over the same time.
Kim’s warming to diplomatic meetings with Trump and South Korean leaders — and a recent surprise trip to Beijing — could be due in great part to the economic pressure from China, its largest trading partner.
North and South Korea held talks about establishing a telephone hotline between their leaders on Saturday as the they prepare for their own sitdown.
The closed-door talks between working-level officials at a border village were part of preparatory discussions to set up the April 27 summit between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
The meeting will be only the third of its kind between the Koreas in the last 50 years.
