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| In this June 12, 2019, photo, South Korean soldiers stand during a press tour at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea. Yonhap |
'Trump considers visiting DMZ,' government official says
By Kim Yoo-chul
President Moon Jae-in will hold a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula at Cheong Wa Dae, June 30, presidential office officials said Monday.
"U.S. President Donald Trump plans to make a state visit to South Korea for two days from Saturday. President Moon proposed Trump's visit during an April summit in Washington, D.C. The agenda will be about denuclearization, and bringing a lasting peace to the peninsula through collaborative efforts between the two countries," Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Ko Min-jung said in a press briefing.
The U.S. president will leave for Washington from Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, Sunday evening, Ko told reporters. The upcoming Moon-Trump summit is the eighth since the two first met in June 2017.
Details of Trump's schedule during his stay here will be released once they are fixed, Ko added. Trump plans to arrive in Osaka, Japan, Thursday to attend the upcoming G20 summit. The U.S. president will hold a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping to explore possible ways to resolve the deepening U.S.-China trade friction and break an impasse in the nuclear dialogue with North Korea.
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| In this April 27, 2018, file photo, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, left, and President Moon Jae-in raise their hands after signing on a joint statement at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone. Yonhap |
While speculation is running high Trump may deliver a speech at the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjeom at the inter-Korean border and in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) during his brief stay, here, Ko said, "Cheong Wa Dae cannot confirm the possible whereabouts of the U.S. president during his visit."
Regarding foreign media reports that Trump plans to meet President Moon and North Korean leader Kim at the border village, the spokeswoman said, "Cheong Wa Dae isn't in a position to confirm that." But a government official said Trump was considering visiting the DMZ. He didn't elaborate further.
If Trump visits the DMZ, it will be the first time both U.S. and South Korean presidents have visit the DMZ together. Also, the visit would be a moment to show the importance of the alliance between the two countries.
The Moon-Trump summit comes after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed the U.S. leader sent a letter to Kim and added he was hoping "the letter" could pave the way for nuclear disarmament dialogue. A day before Pompeo's confirmation, North Korea's state-run KCNA reported Kim described the letter as being "of excellent content and something that needs to be reviewed thoroughly, deeply and seriously."
But the KCNA didn't give any details about the content of the letter.
Rep. Kim Jong-dae, a member of the National Assembly Defense Committee, said in a radio interview, Monday, that Trump's letter may have contained his repeated commitment to continue nuclear dialogue and possible benefits Washington could provide to North Korea according to the progress of its denuclearization. "Kim may have promised his plans to declare undeclared nuclear facilities and let U.S and U.N. nuclear inspectors into the country to inspect its existing and new nuclear sites," the lawmaker told.
In 2017, Trump wanted to visit the DMZ when he came to South Korea for a summit with President Moon, but was forced at the last minute to cancel because of bad weather. At that time, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president was "disappointed" not to make the trip.
The DMZ has kept the two countries apart since the 1950-53 Korean War which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. It has been on every visiting U.S. president's itinerary, with the exception of George W. Bush, ever since Ronald Reagan in 1983.
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