Second Trump-Kim summit planned in February – White House

US President Donald Trump will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the end of February, the White House has announced after talks with the North Korean envoy in Washington.

North Korea's Vice Chairman Kim Yong Chol visited Washington on Friday and reportedly spent almost two hours at the White House.

Trump met with the envoy for an hour and a half, “to discuss denuclearization and a second summit, which will take place near the end of February,” the White House said in a statement. The location of the summit will be “announced at a later date.”

Trump and Kim held a historic first summit in Singapore last June, in a surprising turn of events after months of heated rhetoric between Washington and Pyongyang. North Korea has offered to dismantle its nuclear program and normalize relations with South Korea.

Despite its stated commitment to the peace process, the Trump administration has not abandoned its policy of “maximum pressure” against Pyongyang, insisting on enforcing the far-reaching UN sanctions against North Korea.

Though Pyongyang has not tested another missile since late 2017, and dismantled one of the test sites following the Singapore summit, the Pentagon continues to treat it as a “rogue state” and potential threat requiring massive investments in missile defense. North Korea topped the list of threats in the US Missile Defense Review published on Thursday, ahead of Iran, Russia and China.

Under President Moon Jae-in, South Korea has made significant progress in improving relations with the North. In addition to a presidential summit, there have been family visits, easing of tensions on the border, and even talk of economic ties.

The Korean peninsula has been divided since the brutal 1950-53 conflict between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the north and the US-backed Republic of Korea in the south. The US currently has almost 30,000 US troops in South Korea.

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