Trump says 2nd summit with N. Korean leader will be held in ‘not distant future’

NEW YORK, Sept. 24 (Yonhap) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will likely be held in the “not too distant future,” adding the North Korean leader has been very open and terrific.

“We’ll see what happens, but we will be having a second summit in the not too distant future,” Trump said while meeting with Moon for a bilateral summit in New York.

Moon arrived here Sunday to take part in the United Nations General Assembly and to brief his U.S. counterpart on the outcome of his rare three-day trip to North Korea for a bilateral summit with leader Kim Jong-un.

Moon said the North Korean leader wishes to hold a second U.S.-North Korea summit with Trump at an early date, and to conclude his country’s denuclearization process swiftly as well.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands after meeting in New York for a bilateral summit on Sept. 24, 2018. (Yonhap)

“While repeatedly expressing his high expectations for President Trump, Chairman Kim expressed a hope to meet with President Trump at an early date to quickly conclude the denuclearization process,” Moon told Trump at the start of their bilateral summit in New York.

Trump and Kim held the first-ever U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore in June.

The U.S. president said the date for his second meeting with Kim will be announced soon, adding the meeting will likely be held in a place other than Singapore.

Moon’s trip to Pyongyang came amid a deadlock in denuclearization talks between the U.S. and North Korea, which stalled after Trump called off a North Korea trip of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, citing a lack of progress in the denuclearization process.

Pompeo said earlier in the day that he will visit Pyongyang before too long to arrange the second Trump-Kim summit.

In the latest inter-Korean summit held in Pyongyang, the North Korean leader agreed to dismantle the country’s missile engine test facility and launch pads in Dongchang-ri, said to be the testbed for the North’s long-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching the continental U.S.

Kim has also offered to dismantle his country’s key nuclear facilities in Yongbyon in exchange for corresponding measures from the U.S.

Moon said the North Korean denuclearization process has been so highly publicized even in the reclusive North that it cannot be reversed.

Trump agreed the North Korean leader appears to want change.

“Chairman Kim has been really very open and terrific, frankly, and I think he wants to see something happen,” he told Moon.