S. Korea-U.S. summit takes place amid diplomatic tug-of-war in Northeast Asia
- 6 years ago
And our Blue House correspondent Hwang Hojun, who's also in Washington for the summit between Presidents Moon and Trump... is going to guide us step-by-step through the flurry of diplomacy that's taken place over the past few months to get us to this point.
The diplomatic surge in Northeast Asia started in March.
"South and North Korea have agreed to hold the third leaders' summit at the Peace House in Panmunjom in late April. For this, we agreed to hold working-level talks."
And just three days later, U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, after being briefed by the South Korean special envoys who personally delivered Kim's willingness to denuclearize.
"President Trump appreciated the briefing and said he would meet Kim Jong-un by May to achieve permanent denuclearization."
But, while Pyongyang's icy relationship with South Korea and the U.S. seemed to be defrosting, the regime made sure to play its cards close to its chest.
In late March, about a month prior to the inter-Korean summit, Kim Jong-un made a surprise visit to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
It was Kim's first trip outside North Korea as well as his first one-on-one with a foreign leader since he took power in 2011.
Kim and Xi discussed Pyongyang's commitment to dialogue with South Korea and the U.S. for denuclearization while underscoring the necessity and historical significance of bilateral ties between North Korea and China and pledging closer communication and cooperation.
On April 27th, the historic inter-Korean summit took place at the border village of Panmunjom.
Thoughts of reconciliation and reunification were in the air as President Moon and Kim pledged to cooperate to de-escalate military tension by halting all aggression and to realize a "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
"Chairman Kim and I have today reaffirmed our common goal of realizing a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization."
Less than two weeks later,... Kim made a surprise visit to Dalian, a city in China's northeast,... for his second summit with Xi Jinping,.... once again pledging to strengthen the strategic communication between the two countries.
China's determination to make sure it would still be able to exert influence on North Korea-related affairs was expressed a couple days after, during a trilateral summit in Tokyo between leaders of South Korea, Japan and China.
And a couple of days after that, President Trump announced the Pyongyang-Washington summit would be held in Singapore on June 12th.
Tuesday's one-on-one between the two leaders comes amid North Korea's threats to cancel its upcoming summit with President Trump if the U.S. continues its quote “one-sided” affair pressuring Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program,... while also citing the recent joint exercises between Seoul and Washington
The spotlight will be on how President Moon,... bearing the label, "t
The diplomatic surge in Northeast Asia started in March.
"South and North Korea have agreed to hold the third leaders' summit at the Peace House in Panmunjom in late April. For this, we agreed to hold working-level talks."
And just three days later, U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, after being briefed by the South Korean special envoys who personally delivered Kim's willingness to denuclearize.
"President Trump appreciated the briefing and said he would meet Kim Jong-un by May to achieve permanent denuclearization."
But, while Pyongyang's icy relationship with South Korea and the U.S. seemed to be defrosting, the regime made sure to play its cards close to its chest.
In late March, about a month prior to the inter-Korean summit, Kim Jong-un made a surprise visit to Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
It was Kim's first trip outside North Korea as well as his first one-on-one with a foreign leader since he took power in 2011.
Kim and Xi discussed Pyongyang's commitment to dialogue with South Korea and the U.S. for denuclearization while underscoring the necessity and historical significance of bilateral ties between North Korea and China and pledging closer communication and cooperation.
On April 27th, the historic inter-Korean summit took place at the border village of Panmunjom.
Thoughts of reconciliation and reunification were in the air as President Moon and Kim pledged to cooperate to de-escalate military tension by halting all aggression and to realize a "complete" denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
"Chairman Kim and I have today reaffirmed our common goal of realizing a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization."
Less than two weeks later,... Kim made a surprise visit to Dalian, a city in China's northeast,... for his second summit with Xi Jinping,.... once again pledging to strengthen the strategic communication between the two countries.
China's determination to make sure it would still be able to exert influence on North Korea-related affairs was expressed a couple days after, during a trilateral summit in Tokyo between leaders of South Korea, Japan and China.
And a couple of days after that, President Trump announced the Pyongyang-Washington summit would be held in Singapore on June 12th.
Tuesday's one-on-one between the two leaders comes amid North Korea's threats to cancel its upcoming summit with President Trump if the U.S. continues its quote “one-sided” affair pressuring Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program,... while also citing the recent joint exercises between Seoul and Washington
The spotlight will be on how President Moon,... bearing the label, "t