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Trump not to meet with North Korean leader in DMZ

People look through binoculars at an observatory overlooking the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and North Korea, in Paju on April 27, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

US President Donald Trump says his scheduled meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will not be held in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.

The date and location of his meeting has already been decided and would be announced within the next three days, Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.

Sources told CNN hours later that the meeting may be held in Singapore.

US officials have apparently picked the country as it represented a more neutral meeting place.

“We’re just working arrangements,” said the president, a week after he suggested that the heavily fortified border that bisects the Korean Peninsula is a good spot for a summit with Kim.

"There's something that I like about it because you're there, you’re actually there, where if things work out, there's a great celebration to be had on the site, not in a third-party country," he said at a press conference last week.

"I can tell you that a date and location are set, but, beyond that, I don't have any other announcements at this point," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday, adding she expects an announcement in "the next few days."

The president’s latest comment came after he sent Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Pyongyang.

North Korea has also released three Americans held as prisoners there apparently as a good gesture.

Last month, the North Korean leader agreed to meet with Trump.

Washington and Pyongyang have no diplomatic relations. The US has imposed many rounds of sanctions on North Korea, has substantial military presence near the country, and has numerously threatened to invade it over its weapons programs.

If held successfully, the Trump-Kim summit — a first between a North Korean leader and a sitting US president — would not only mark a sudden change in America’s posture toward North Korea but could also potentially lead to the easing of restrictions on North Korea.


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