SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s unification minister on Friday called on U.S. President Donald Trump to meet the leader of North Korea during his forthcoming visit to Asia, urging the two men to seize a rare chance for peace, Yonhap news agency reported.
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who is Seoul’s top policymaker on ties between the divided Koreas, said Trump’s trip to South Korea was an “opportunity from the heavens” that could help boost North Korea’s global standing and its economy.
“The leaders of North Korea and the U.S. must not miss this chance,” Chung was quoted by Yonhap as telling South Korean media. “They need to make a bold decision.”
Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times during his previous term as president but failed to reach agreement on ending Pyongyang’s nuclear program because of differences on lifting sanctions and over how to scrap the North’s nuclear facilities.
Officials in Seoul, including South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, have been sceptical that a new meeting could take place next week but welcomed the prospect of a breakthrough in diplomacy with Pyongyang if it were to happen.
Trump leaves Washington on Friday night for a five-day trip spanning Malaysia, Japan and South Korea — his first to the region since taking office in January.
Chung said the visit was a chance to bypass preparations and coordination normally required for a meeting between the leaders of the two old foes that would otherwise make it very difficult for them to see each other.
“It would help North Korea’s international standing and improve its people’s lives … and for that, peace and stability need to be guaranteed and that’s only possible by meeting President Trump,” Chung was quoted as saying.
Trump met Kim at the Panmunjom truce village straddling the inter-Korean border in 2019 in a hastily arranged trip immediately following his visit to Japan for a global summit.
(Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Crispian Balmer)
