Show caption Kim Jong-un and the South Korean culture minister, Do Jong-hwan, watch a performance. Photograph: Ryu Seung-Il/Zuma Wire/Rex/Shutterstock North Korea North Korea will discuss denuclearization, US official says US official: Kim Jong-un willing to talk about nuclear weapons

No date set yet for face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump Reuters in Washington Sun 8 Apr 2018 21.35 BST Share on Facebook

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North Korea has told the US for the first time it is prepared to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula when Kim Jong-un meets Donald Trump, a US official said on Sunday.

US and North Korean officials have held secret contacts recently, in which Pyongyang directly delivered the message of its willingness to hold the summit, the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Wall Street Journal also reported the news, quoting an unnamed “Trump administration official”. No date has been set for the meeting.

Until now, Washington had relied on South Korea’s assurance of Kim’s intentions. South Korean envoys visited Washington last month to convey Kim’s invitation to meet. Trump, who has exchanged bellicose threats with Kim in the past year, surprised the world by quickly agreeing to meet Kim to discuss the crisis over Pyongyang’s development of nuclear weapons capable of hitting the US.

But Pyongyang has not broken its public silence on the summit, which US officials say is being planned for May. There was no immediate word on the possible venue for the talks, which would be the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader.

The US official declined to say exactly when and how the US-North Korea communications had taken place but said the two sides had held multiple direct contacts.

“The US has confirmed that Kim Jong-un is willing to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” said a second US official.

Questions remain about how North Korea would define denuclearization, which Washington sees as Pyongyang abandoning its nuclear weapons program. North Korea has said over the years that it could consider giving up its nuclear arsenal if the US removed its troops from South Korea and withdrew its so-called nuclear umbrella of deterrence from South Korea and Japan.