South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha meets Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong in Singapore
The US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson drew a distinction between "talks" with North Korea and "negotiations", arguing that President Donald Trump's willingness to chat with Kim Jong-un should not be construed as anything more than that.
It's a seismic shift in a relationship that until now has been based on repeated taunts between two leaders who a year ago brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Kim Jong Un has "committed to denuclearization" and to suspending nuclear and missile tests, South Korea's National Security Office head Chung Eui-yong told reporters at the White House on Thursday after briefing Trump. Undoubtedly, Kim has felt the sting of Trump's economic sanctions, but more than Kim, it is the Chinese who have the most to lose economically, especially if war were to break out on the Korean peninsula.
Here's what we know - and don't know.
A senior United States official told reporters, "Kim is the only one who can make decisions" in North Korea. "Time and place to be determined", Trump wrote. Lindsey Graham warned Kim that "the worst possible thing you can do is meet with President Trump in person and try to play him". "It's possible the summit will be in the Panmunjom DMZ border complex".
North and South Korea are technically still at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a ceasefire, not a truce.
Trump threatened "fire and fury" if Pyongyang continued to threaten the United States, only for North Korea to carry out its sixth nuclear test. Even proponents of a diplomatic approach towards North Korea worry the administration could be rushing into a summit with little time to prepare. The North Korean leader inherited power and was prepared for years.
January 2: President-elect Donald Trump tweets, "North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won't happen!"
Finally, few experienced Asia diplomats expect Kim to give up his nuclear weapons, which he is convinced are the key to his regime's survival.
A senior USA official said later it could happen "in a matter of a couple of months, with the exact timing and place still to be determined".
U.S. officials said Pyongyang had scrapped secretly planned talks at the last minute after Pence denounced abuses from North Korea's "murderous regime".
"Pyongyang can say they tried and resume nuclear and missile testing", he said. "If he gets them up, there's no reason why they won't come in after him".
What does the United States want?
"President Trump has said for some time that he was open to talks and he would willingly meet with Kim Jong Un when conditions were right, the time was right", Tillerson said.
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World's Hideki Yui joined Newsline from Washington to give some insight on why the Trump administration agreed to the Kim meeting. Without China and its food and energy exports (China makes up 90 percent of North Korea's trade volume), the isolated Hermit Kingdom would collapse in short order.
The message seems to be that Pyongyang only has to agree to discuss denuclearisation, not to actually begin disarming in advance of talks.
Kim Jong Un talked about denuclearization with the South Korean Representatives, not just a freeze.
Trump has indicated that he has no plans to withdraw any sanctions until there are actual results, and talks don't equate to results.
A South Korean Presidential spokesman said the delegation would also meet Trump.
Previous North Korea leaders sought face-to-face meetings with sitting American presidents but they refused, partly over fears they could serve as propaganda for a regime accused of shocking human rights abuses against its own people.
The US and South Korea team up for a military exercise south of Seoul. "In the meantime, all sanctions and maximum pressure must remain", the statement added.
Geng Shuang, a spokesman at China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Friday that the development was positive, and that it was a moment to show "political courage".
North Korea has long offered a summit to American leaders, who have not taken up the offer.
.German Chancellor Angela Merkel was among the world leaders to hail the announcement as a "glimmer of hope", saying North Korea's nuclear drive "has been a source of great concern for all of us".
Experts have low expectations for the outcome of the meeting, if indeed it goes ahead. As for the billionaire, he is the most unlikely president in USA history.
"Mr. President, when it comes to the North Korean regime, we must verify before we trust", wrote Gardner, along with senators Jim Risch, Marco Rubio, Jim Inhofe, Ron Johnson, and Todd Young.
With the USA clearly looking for steps towards denuclearization and the North Koreans unlikely to give up their nuclear deterrent, experts said it was hard to see where an agreement could be made. "You're on the way to a historical meeting no US president has ever done", the former National Basketball Association star told The Associated Press after news broke Thursday of plans to arrange a meeting between the Trump and Kim.
But how excited should we really get about the prospects of a diplomatic breakthrough with Pyongyang?
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