Talks to lay the groundwork for the first ever Washington-Pyongyang bilateral summit
are also fast developing.
U.S. President Donald Trump made a number of intriguing comments regarding the matter.
Lee Ji-won shares with us his remarks.
Tuesday's headlines were filled with claims that U.S. President Donald Trump had direct
talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The news came after Trump smiled and answered "yes" when asked by a reporter if he had spoken
directly with Kim,... but he quickly backtracked, saying "let's leave it a little bit short
of the highest level".
President Trump was asked the question during the first day of the two-day summit with the
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also clarified that the talks were not with
Kim directly.
What has been confirmed is that the U.S. did engage in direct talks with the North at "extremely
high levels", according to President Trump, but he did not specify which senior officials
from Washington and Pyongyang have talked.
He also mentioned that five locations are under consideration for the scheduled Washington-Pyongyang
summit.
No specific locations have been mentioned, but the United States is not among those being
considered, said Trump.
Amid heightened interest on the development of the summit talks, the U.S. leader stressed
that it is the end result that is important.
"I really believe there's a lot of goodwill, a lot of good things are happening.
We'll see what happens, as I always say, we'll see what happens, because ultimately it's
the end result that counts not the fact that we're thinking about having a meeting or having
a meeting."
Just hours after Trump's comments, there was a report that CIA Director Mike Pompeo visited
Pyongyang.
Citing two people with direct knowledge of the trip, the Washington Post said the CIA
chief went to Pyongyang over the Easter weekend to meet Kim Jong-un as Trump's envoy, in an
effort to lay the groundwork for the much anticipated North Korea-U.S. summit.
The Easter weekend was from March 31st to April 1st.... not long after Pompeo had been
nominated for Secretary of State.
This would make Pompeo one of the most senior officials known to have visited Pyongyang
in recent years,... following the nation's intelligence chief James Clapper in 2014.
But the CIA and the White House declined to comment on the matter.
The intelligence agency has been in direct contact with the North in recent weeks.
Multiple sources, including CNN and Reuters, reported that CIA and State Department officials
are communicating with the North through back channels to plan for the summit which is expected
to be held in late May or early June.
Lee Ji-won, Arirang News.
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