U.S. says inter-Korean meeting moves DPRK-U.S. summit closer

U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said on Thursday that the just-announced meeting plan between South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) would move Pyongyang's meeting with Washington closer.

Seoul and Pyongyang on Thursday agreed to hold a summit on April 27 in the truce village of Panmunjom, the first meeting between the leaders of the two sides in 11 years.

Nauert said in a press briefing that the meeting "moves us closer to the point where the United States can sit down with North Korea(DPRK) and have a meeting."

"We are being realistic too about this meeting," she said. "But that doesn't mean that we won't go ahead and plan a meeting to have these conversations about the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

She said the U.S. State Department is planning for the meeting and pushing it ahead in "full faith and good faith."

"We've had lots of conversations with the Republic of Korea about the contents of that meeting and the contents of their discussion," she added.

Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump and the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un agreed to meet, yet the timing and place of the high-profile gathering has not been announced yet.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)