Trump accepts invitation to meet N Korean chief

Washington, March 9: US President Dold Trump has accepted an invitation to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, an extraordiry development following months of heightened nuclear tension and frequent threats and insults, media reports said. The news was confirmed on Thursday night by both the White House and visiting South Korean tiol Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong. After meeting Trump at the White House, Chung said: “He (Kim) expressed his eagerness to meet President Trump as soon as possible. “President Trump said he would meet Kim Jong-un by May.” Chung however, did not provide any information on where the meeting would take, reports The Washington Post.

Chung led the South Korean delegation earlier this week to North Korea, where Kim and his senior cadre expressed a willingness to hold talks with the US and were prepared to discuss denuclearisation and normalising relations.

Trump also expressed his optimism about the meeting in a post on Twitter, saying that Kim had “talked about denuclearisation with the South Korean Representatives, not just a freeze”, The New York Times reported. Trump and Kim have spent the past year making belligerent statements about each other, with Trump mocking Kim as “Little Rocket Man” and pledging to “totally destroy” North Korea and Kim calling the ­American ­President a “dotard” and a “lutic” and threatening to send nuclear bombs to Washington, D.C. (IANS)