Pompeo says Trump

A TV screen at Seoul Station shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump during their first summit in Singapore in June 2018. Korea Times file

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday he was sending a team to make preparations for the next summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to be held somewhere in Asia in late February.

In an interview with Fox News Channel, Pompeo said the North Koreans had agreed that the second summit between the two leaders would be held at the end of February.

"We'll do it someplace in Asia," he said. "I am dispatching a team there. They're headed that way now to lay the foundations for what I hope will be a substantial additional step towards the path for not only denuclearization of the peninsula but a brighter future for the North Korean people."

Pompeo did not name the summit venue. Vietnam said last week it had not been informed about any time or venue for a possible Trump-Kim summit, but that it was confident of its ability to host such a meeting.

Officials and diplomats said two weeks ago that Vietnam was keen to host the summit and two sources told Reuters that Hanoi was preparing to receive Kim on a state visit.

Singapore, where Trump and Kim met in June, and Bangkok have also been talked about as summit possibilities.

Last June's summit ― the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader ― produced a vague commitment by Kim to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, but he is yet to take what Washington sees as concrete steps in that direction. (Reuters)