Sweden hosts North Korean foreign minister amid speculation

North Korea's foreign minister met with his Swedish counterpart after making a surprise trip to Stockholm that has fuelled speculation about a meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho landed at Stockholm Arlanda Airport yesterday on a direct flight from Beijing and spent several hours at the Swedish Foreign Ministry before returning to the North Korean Embassy.

Ri's talks with Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom are expected to resume today.

Sweden has had diplomatic relations with North Korea since 1973 and is one of the few Western countries with an embassy in Pyongyang. It provides consular services for the United States in North Korea.

"If the key actors want Sweden to play a role, facilitate (talks), be a forum or a link or whatever it may be, then we are prepared to do that," Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told Sweden's TT news agency yesterday.

"We shouldn't be naive and believe it is Sweden that solves these problems," Lofven added.

Sweden's foreign ministry said the talks between Wallstrom and Ri "will focus on Sweden's consular responsibilities as a protecting power for the United States, Canada and Australia," but also will address the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.

The ministry referred to the UN Security Council's condemnation of North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile programs, saying the UN "emphasized the need for intensified diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict." The Swedish ministry said a statement summarizing the talks will be made available today.

Ri, a former diplomat in Stockholm and London and an ex-nuclear envoy with experience negotiating with rivals South Korea and the United States, was tapped as Pyongyang's foreign minister in 2016.

In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month, he urged the United Nations not to remain silent about what he called "the US dangerous game of aggravating (the) situation in and around the Korean peninsula and driving the whole world into a possible disaster of nuclear war."