The talks will take some weeks to arrange, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said. A venue was not announced but neutral Switzerland, which often hosts summits, said it was ready to facilitate the meeting.

US President Donald Trump‘s decision to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un „was not a surprise in any way,“ US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday, less than a day after the top US diplomat said conditions were not yet ripe for negotiations with North Korea.

Aus sicherheitspolitischen Erwägungen scheiden wohl die Hauptstädte Washington und Pjöngjang aus. Seoul wäre nicht neutral genug, der Waffenstillstandsort Panmunjom zu negativ symbolbehaftet. Für Peking könnten sich wohl beide Seiten erwärmen. Vorstellbar wäre auch ein Treffen auf Hawaii. Dieser Ort läge nicht nur auf halber ­Strecke, er hätte auch eine politische Bedeutung, jedenfalls für Nordkorea. Kim Jong Un könnte mit einem Kranz die Opfer des ­japanischen Angriffs auf Pearl Harbour vom 7. Dezember 1941 ehren und damit demonstrieren, wie sehr Korea noch heute von der japanischen Okkupation traumatisiert ist.

No U.S. leader has ever visited North Korea while serving in the Oval Office. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton traveled to the country on what amounted to peacekeeping missions, but both Democrats had been out of the White House for years before making their trip

Es habe in letzter Zeit eine erhöhte Zahl von Kontakten über neu geöffnete Gesprächskanäle gegeben, sagte der Außenminister. „Was sich geändert hat, war in ziemlich dramatischer Weise seine Haltung. Und um ganz ehrlich zu sein: Es kam dann doch etwas überraschend, dass sich Kim Jong Un in den Gesprächen mit der Delegation aus Südkorea so vorwärtsgerichtet präsentiert hat“, sagte Tillerson.

Explaining Trump’s decision-making about the meeting, Tillerson said the US had witnessed a shift from North Korea that became apparent when a South Korean delegation visited Pyongyang, then traveled to Washington to brief US officials on the rare meeting. He said the dispatch from that meeting “was the most forward-leaning report that we’ve had, in terms of Kim Jong Un’s not just willingness but his strong desire for talks.

“What changed was his posture in a fairly dramatic way,” Tillerson said. “In all honesty, that came as a little bit of a surprise to us as well.”

North Korea’s desire to meet to discuss denuclearization – while suspending all ballistic missile and nuclear testing – is evidence that President Trump’s strategy to isolate the Kim regime is working. The North Koreans are coming to the table despite the United States making zero concessions and, in close coordination with our allies, we have consistently increased the pressure on the Kim regime. Our resolve is undeterred and our policy remains the same: all sanctions remain in place and the maximum pressure campaign will continue until North Korea takes concrete, permanent, and verifiable steps to end their nuclear program.

A physicist, Khlopkov is the founding director of the Center for Energy and Security Studies in Moscow. His expertise is in regional aspects of nuclear nonproliferation and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Previously, he served as the PIR Center‘s executive director and worked as a visiting fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

Anton Khlopkov, director of the Centre for Energy and Security Studies of Russia, visited the DPRK.

While in Pyongyang, he and his entourage paid a courtesy call on Choe Son Hui, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs of the DPRK, and met relevant Korean officials to exchange views on the Korean peninsula situation, bilateral relations and other issues of common concern.

At stake is the US$11.1 million porcelain factory he set up at the now-shuttered inter-Korean joint factory park in North Korea‘s border city of Kaesong.

Cho is one of more than 120 South Korean businessmen who were forced to leave behind their equipment, raw materials and finished goods at Kaesong in 2016 when Seoul suddenly pulled the plug on the factory park.

Major media outlets from around the world have been eyeing the agreement to hold a third inter-Korean summit that was struck by the two Koreas, and Pyongyang’s commitment to denuclearization, seeing the moves as “major progress” and “a significant diplomatic accomplishment.”

Reuters: What role does China have to facilitate direct talks between North Korea and the United States? Does China believe that the US needs to withdraw its military forces in South Korea?

Wang Yi: This is the hottest topic right now. Seizing the opportunity of the PyeongChang Olympics, the DPRK and the ROK have had a succession of interactions and achieved a rapid thaw in their relations, reversing the long-standing chill on the Korean Peninsula. The recent developments may seem baffling to some people, but are actually within the bounds of reason. During the Winter Games, the DPRK did not conduct any nuclear test and the US and the ROK suspended their joint exercises targeting the DPRK. This proves that China‘s „suspension for suspension“ proposal was the right prescription for the problem and created basic conditions for the improvement of inter-Korean relations.

The Korean Peninsula issue has finally taken an important step in the right direction. China fully commends and supports the efforts made by the two Koreas. To return the Peninsula to peace and stability and the nuclear issue to the track of dialogue, these initial steps must be followed up by corresponding and concerted efforts by the parties. To this end, we call on the parties, particularly the US and the DPRK, to engage in dialogue sooner rather than later. We encourage all to follow the dual-track approach of remaining committed to the goal of denuclearization and working actively to establish a peace mechanism on the Peninsula. The parties‘ legitimate security concerns, including those of the DPRK, can be addressed in exchange for and in tandem with progress towards denuclearization. This is China‘s long-standing position and also the vision set forth in the relevant Security Council resolutions.

Of course, it takes more than one cold day to freeze three feet of ice. Despite light at the end of the tunnel, the journey ahead won‘t be smooth. History has reminded us time and again that whenever tensions subsided on the Peninsula, the situation would be clouded by various interferences. Now is a crucial moment for testing the sincerity of the parties.

Es ist nichts weniger als ein politischer Supercoup, der am Donnerstag um 19.12 Uhr Ortszeit jäh und unerwartet über Washington hereinbricht.

CHUNG: Good evening. Today, I had the privilege of briefing President Trump on my recent visit to Pyongyang, North Korea. I’d like to thank President Trump, the Vice President, and his wonderful national security team, including my close friend, General McMaster.

I explained to President Trump that his leadership and his maximum pressure policy, together with international solidarity, brought us to this juncture. I expressed President Moon Jae-in’s personal gratitude for President Trump’s leadership.

I told President Trump that, in our meeting, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he is committed to denuclearization. Kim pledged that North Korea will refrain from any further nuclear or missile tests. He understands that the routine joint military exercises between the Republic of Korea and the United States must continue. And he expressed his eagerness to meet President Trump as soon as possible.

President Trump appreciated the briefing and said he would meet Kim Jong-un by May to achieve permanent denuclearization.

Not only has Mr. Moon steered two headstrong, erratic adversaries away from a military conflict that could have been devastating for his nation, he has maneuvered the Trump administration into pursuing negotiations that it has long resisted — but that he and his allies on South Korea’s political left have long pressed for.

And he will set the stage for any meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim when he first sits down with the North Korean leader for a summit meeting next month in the Demilitarized Zone.

Mr Tillerson spoke about the developments while in Djibouti on an African trip.

He said of Kim Jong-un: „What changed was his posture in a fairly dramatic way.

„In all honesty, that came as a little bit of a surprise to us, as well that he was so forward-leaning in his conversations with the delegation from South Korea.“

Fast dreiundsiebzig Jahre nach der Befreiung Koreas vom Sklavenstaat der kaiserlich-japanischen Kolonialherrschaft und der nachfolgenden Teilung in die beiden koreanischen Staaten, und fast dreiundsechzig Jahre nach Inkrafttreten des Waffenstillstands im Korea-Krieg mit seinen Millionen von Toten, kommt es nun zum ersten Mal zu einem Treffen zwischen einem Präsidenten der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika und dem Monarchen in Nordkorea.

Moon sagte, dass er Trump und Kim für ihren Mut und ihre Weisheit dankbar sei. Sie hätten schwierige Beschlüsse gefasst.

Er betonte, die Führungsstärke von Trump, der Kims Einladung gerne angenommen habe, werde sowohl von den Menschen in Süd- und Nordkorea als auch von Menschen in der Welt, die den Weltfrieden wünschen, gelobt. Die Regierung wolle die Gelegenheit, die sich wie ein Wunder ergeben habe, sorgfältig nutzen.

Er bedankte sich auch bei den Bürgern und Staats- und Regierungschefs anderer Länder für deren Aufmerksamkeit und Anteilnahme.

Nach Angaben von US-Präsident Donald Trump hat Nordkoreas Machthaber Kim Jong-un von einer Denuklearisierung gesprochen, nicht nur von einem Einfrieren.

Das schrieb Trump auf Twitter, nachdem er Chung Eui-yong, Sicherheitsberater von Südkoreas Präsident Moon Jae-in, getroffen hatte. Chung hatte Anfang der Woche als Moons Sondergesandter Nordkorea besucht und am Donnerstag (Ortszeit) bei seinem Besuch im Weißen Haus eine Botschaft von Kim Jong-un an Trump übermittelt.

In Nordkorea haben sich beide Koreas geeinigt, den dritten Korea-Gipfel Ende April in der südkoreanischen Zone im Waffenstillstandsdorf Panmunjom abzuhalten. Kim Jong-un hat während des Dialogs außerdem de facto ein Moratorium für Nuklear- und Raketentests erklärt. Chung wird nun Russland und China, und Suh Japan besuchen, um die Ergebnisse des Besuchs in Nordkorea zu erläutern.