Seoul Official Hints At US-North Korea Meeting This Year

Seoul: A meeting between North Korea and the United States on the sidelines of this year's APEC summit in South Korea "cannot be ruled out", according to a Seoul foreign ministry official.

Ties between Pyongyang and Washington have been in the deep freeze since a high-profile summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump in 2019 collapsed over sanctions relief and Pyongyang's nuclear concessions.

Since then, North Korea has repeatedly declared itself an "irreversible" nuclear state, though Kim has recently signalled willingness to reopen a dialogue with Washington.

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A high-ranking official in South Korea's foreign ministry said on Friday in New York that such talks could take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum, due to start in late October.

"We cannot rule out the possibility," the official said when asked about the prospective meeting.

Trump is expected to attend the forum, which will take place in the South Korean city of Gyeongju.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, gave no details of where US-North Korea talks might take place or what form they would take.

Trump and Kim have previously met in Panmunjom, a village in the demilitarised zone separating North and South Korea, which remain technically at war with each other.

Trump met Kim three times during his first term and once famously said the pair had fallen "in love".

Their relationship hit the rocks after the 2019 summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, which fell apart over what concessions Pyongyang was willing to make over its nuclear programme.

However, Trump said in August that he hoped to meet the North Korean leader again, possibly this year.

And North Korean state media quoted Kim this week as saying he had "fond memories" of the US leader and was open to future talks if Washington dropped its demand that Pyongyang give up its nuclear weapons.

Kim made a rare trip outside North Korea this month, appearing alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin at a massive military parade in Beijing.

Xi is also expected to make an appearance at the APEC forum, which runs until November 1.

Historically, China is North Korea's main backer, though Kim has drawn closer to Putin in recent years and sent Moscow arms and troops to assist in its invasion of Ukraine.

On Saturday, Pyongyang's state media said Kim had reaffirmed the country's "invariable" stance on maintaining security through its nuclear forces.

Kim said the North Korean leadership "will give top priority" to supporting nuclear development, the official Korean Central News Agency reported.

With backing from both Putin and Xi, Kim is expected to command more influence in any future talks with Trump, analysts say.

"Kim is now positioning himself not as an isolated dictator, but as a key stakeholder backed by two nuclear-armed great powers," Seong-Hyon Lee, a visiting scholar and associate at the Harvard University Asia Center, told AFP.

"This dramatically increases his leverage in any future bilateral negotiations."

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