Seoul: US President Donald Trump has invited North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to meet him at the fortified area that divides North and South Korea.
In what Trump described as a spontaneous gesture, he said on Twitter he could “shake Kim’s] hand and say hello” during his visit to South Korea.
North Korea has described it as a “very interesting suggestion”.
Following the G20 in Japan, Trump will discuss the flagging North Korea denuclearisation talks in Seoul.
If Trump and Kim were to see each other at the demilitarised zone (DMZ), it would be their third meeting in just over a year, and their first since a summit in Vietnam broke down in February.
Trump conceded that the pair could see each other only “for two minutes”, leadingone analyst to dismiss the potential meeting as “pointless theatre”.
However, despite the apparent lack of any diplomatic preparation, some have suggested another face-to-face meeting between the pair could help reset relations and set the scene for future talks.
Trump had a working breakfast with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman in Osaka on Saturday before a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, where they agreed to restart talks amid a trade war seen as a drag on global growth.
Only a few hours later, North Korea’s first vice-minister for foreign affairs, Choe Son Hui, said in statement: “We see it as a very interesting suggestion, but we have not received an official proposal in this regard.”
Such a meeting, it added, “would serve as another meaningful occasion in further deepening the personal relations between the two leaders and advancing the bilateral relations”.
It remains unclear whether officials with Trump were briefed in advance about his overture to the North Korean leader, and South Korea’s presidency said nothing was yet confirmed.
But last week, a South Korean official said Trump was considering a trip to the DMZ, prompting speculation a meeting with Kim could be possible. Trump attempted to make a surprise visit to the area in November 2017, but was forced to abandon the plans due to bad weather.
