North Korea, the United States of America in secret talks ahead of Trump-Kim meeting

US President Donald J. Trump (L) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. (Photo by AFP)

Officials from the United States and North Korea have been holding secret meetings to lay the groundwork for a much-awaited summit between American President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to a new report.

Mike Pompeo, the current Central Intelligence Agency Director who is also Trump’s designated Secretary of State, has been personally working with a team of CIA agents to make preparations for the meeting using intelligence back-channels, the CNN reported over the weekend, citing administration officials.

The officials told the news agency that intelligence officials from both sides had already spoken several times and even held meetings in a third country to specify a location for the Trump-Kim meeting, which is said to take place by May.

After spending the better part of the last year exchanging nuclear threats, Trump and Kim finally agreed to sit down and resolve their issues over Pyongyang’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs.

While the North has yet to publicly confirm the meeting, a South Korean envoy said after returning from a Pyongyang visit that Kim had indeed agreed to directly talk to Trump and discuss Pyongyang’s denuclearization.

US officials told CNN that North Koreans were trying to convince the American side for a meeting in Pyongyang, but it remained unclear whether the White House would agree to that.

The secret talks are aimed at making the preparations for a meeting between Pompeo and the head of North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, before the two leaders meet.

Once the two sides agree on the location, then a date will also be set and the agenda of the Trump-Kim meeting will be discussed in greater detail, the officials said.

Trump is due to host with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in two weeks. Abe is said to have prepared a list of concerns about the talks.

Japan and South Korea have asked the North to denuclearize if it wants them to stop holding military drills with the US and amassing American weapons in their territories.

China is also expected to play an important role in the talks as Pyongyang’s main trade partner. The Chinese have also briefed their American counterparts following Kim and President Xi Jinping meeting in Beijing late last month.