Kremlin: Russia Welcomes Trump-Kim Meeting

MOSCOW- Russia hails any steps aimed at reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday, commenting on Sunday’s meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un of the Democratic people’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

“President Putin and the Russian side as a whole have been rather consistently calling on the interested parties to show restraint and a constructive approach and take steps, which would not push the sides to a corner. As for the meeting itself, no doubt, we welcome it and we are ready to welcome any steps and meetings leading to reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula and drawing us nearer to denuclearization in this region,” Peskov said, according to Itar Tass.

 However, Peskov ruled out holding a four-way summit on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula involving Russia, China, Democratic Korea and the United States. “No, there is no talk about this,” he noted.

During his visit to South Korea on June 30, Trump visited the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on the border with DPRK where he met with leader Kim Jong-un. Trump became the first incumbent US president to set foot on DPRK’s soil. The talks between the US president and the Korean leader lasted for about an hour.

One of the major outcomes of Trump’s visit to the DMZ was an agreement between the US and Democratic Korea to resume working-level talks on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula within the next two or three weeks. The US delegation will be led by US Special Representative for DPRK Stephen Biegun.

Trump noted that at this stage there was no talk about lifting US sanctions. He pledged, however, that in the future he would be ready to cancel restrictions in the event of progress at the talks.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump took part in the first trilateral US-North Korea-South Korea summit, although it lasted for just a couple of minutes. Apart from that, the third Trump-Kim meeting, far from having any historic outcomes, ended up only with the sides agreeing on setting up a working group to break the deadlock, Kommersant writes. Trump convened the US-North Korean summit within 24 hours, informing Kim about his wish to meet on Twitter.

H.M