09 March 2018•Update: 09 March 2018
By Fuat Kabakci
BEIJING
China welcomed on Friday a possible meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over de-nuclearization talks.
“We welcome the positive message that North Korea and the U.S. sent out on their direct dialogue,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a news briefing in the capital Beijing.
On Thursday, South Korea's national security advisor confirmed that Trump has accepted Kim's invitation.
Chung Eui-Yiong told reporters during brief remarks at the White House that Trump has agreed to meet Kim by May after Kim "expressed his eagerness to meet President Trump as soon as possible".
The time and place of the talks yet to be determined, the White House said while stressing "all sanctions and maximum pressure must remain". If the meeting does take place it would mark the first talks between a serving U.S. president and a Korean leader.
The countries lack formal diplomatic ties, and nearly three decades of sporadic talks have failed to de-nuclearize the Korean peninsula.
