TOKYO: East Asia’s major powers meet in Tokyo on Wednesday (May 9) to search for common ground on North Korea, while Washington’s top…
TOKYO: East Asia’s major powers meet in Tokyo on Wednesday (May 9) to search for common ground on North Korea, while Washington’s top diplomat was also expected in Pyongyang, as a breakneck diplomatic dance gathers pace.
With the focus on the North exposing differences among its neighbours, the leaders of Japan, South Korea and China will be seeking a lowest-common-denominator agreement in the wake of a historic summit last week between Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in.
After years of isolation and sanctions prompted by its missile and nuclear programme, Pyongyang’s relationship with the outside world has rapidly warmed, to the point where Kim could meet US President Donald Trump over the next few weeks.
Trump announced late Tuesday that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on his way to Pyongyang for talks ahead of the planned summit.
« We think relationships are building with North Korea. We will see how it all works out. Maybe it won’t. But it can be a great thing for North Korea, South Korea and the entire world, » Trump said in a televised address from the White House.
Pompeo, who met Kim in Pyongyang about a month ago while still director of the CIA, left Washington on Monday night with a delegation of senior officials, bound first for Japan, then North Korea.
Earlier Tuesday, Kim held talks with China’s Xi Jinping – their second meeting in six weeks – in which the North’s leader reiterated a commitment to denuclearisation.
Kim’s unannounced trip to the northeastern Chinese port city of Dalian highlights efforts by the Cold War-era allies to mend relations that cooled as Beijing supported UN sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
