In a fresh bid to restart stalled denuclearisation talks, US President Donald Trump on Sunday announced that he will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the Inter-Korean border.
"For some reason, we have certain chemistry -- or whatever. Let's see what happens. We have a long way to go. But I'm in no rush... So, I just want to say that we are going to be heading out to the DMZ and it's something I planned long ago but had the idea yesterday to maybe say hello, just shake hands quickly and say hello," CNN quoted Trump, as saying.
He also hinted at a third summit with Kim.
"A third North Korea-US Summit, and the timing of that, really, that would depend on what kind of change today's encounter will bring about. But we have expectations for future development, obviously," he said.
This will be the third time this year that the two leaders are coming face to face, the last meeting being in May at Hanoi.
"We had a great meeting in Vietnam, people don't realize it. It's all part of the whole negotiation. But we actually had a great meeting in Vietnam, we had a great meeting in Singapore," Trump said.
Trump, who reached South Korea to hold talks with its President Moon Jae-in after attending the G-20 summit in Osaka, had offered to meet Kim.
Before his much-anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump took to Twitter and said he is willing to meet Kim at the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea, even if it is just to "say hello."
"After some very important meetings, including my meeting with President Xi of China, I will be leaving Japan for South Korea (with President Moon). While there, if Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!" the US President had tweeted on Saturday.
Talks between the two countries hit a roadblock after the second Summit in Vietnam ended abruptly with no joint statement being released. The two sides reportedly failed to resolve their differences over sanction waiver.
The possibility of an agreement between the two countries has apparently suffered a setback after North Korea tested multiple short-range missiles last month as a sign of apparent frustration over the stalled negotiations and continuing sanctions.
Pyongyang has repeatedly insisted that the removal of penalties will help spur economic growth, while Washington has reaffirmed that sanctions will not be removed till the communist country completely stopped its nuclear weapons programme.
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