Sergei Lavrov meets Kim Jong-Un, Invites Him To Russia

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has received Russian top diplomat Sergey Lavrov who arrived in Pyongyang for talks on the Korean Peninsula issue, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Kim Yong Chol landed in NY on Wednesday as the most senior North Korean envoy to hold talks with American officials on US soil in 18 years.

The latest conciliatory declarations capped a turbulent few days of diplomatic brinkmanship that had sent tensions soaring.

According to our Cha Sang-mi the White House is optimistic the much-anticipated summit will take place in Singapore on the originally set date. “The secretary of state is from the heartland and likes American food, and he’s hosting someone who’s never been to our country”, the official said.

The leading diplomat spoke about the importance of trust in Asia and what a difference between peace and war he thinks it could make, urging the USA to build a relationship based on trust rather than power plays.

The State Department released photos of a smiling Pompeo shaking hands with Kim Yong Chol, pointing out NY landmarks to him by a window and toasting his guests.

White House officials maintain that Trump was hopeful the North was merely negotiating but that he was prepared for the letter to mark the end of the two-month flirtation.

A “pre-advance” team of USA officials has also traveled to Singapore to meet with North Koreans there, the White House said.

“We are doing very well with North Korea”, Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews before departing on trip to Texas.

Howard Stoffer, who served as deputy director of United Nations counterterrorism committee, also said the North could agree to completely denuclearize at the summit but the differences between Washington and Pyongyang over the pace of denuclearization could hamper the talks.

“It’s absolutely obvious that when a conversation starts about solving the nuclear problem and other problems of the Korean Peninsula, we proceed from the fact that the decision can’t be complete while sanctions are still in place”, he said.

Kim would be wise to delay any official visit to Russian Federation until after his meeting with Trump, said Jeong Hyung-gon, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.

Trump and other US officials have indicated that the summit, which the president announced he was cancelling last week, could still occur if talks improve between the two nations. The US and China are both signatories to the armistice.

There are still stark differences between what the two sides hope to achieve.

Pyongyang has a different view of what denuclearization might look like and remains deeply anxious that abandoning its deterrent would leave the country vulnerable to regime change.

Sergei Lavrov’s meeting with Kim Jong-Un was likely a move to secure Russian Federation as a key negotiator.

The rare visit comes ahead of the potential summit between the leaders of the two countries next month. A letter being delivered to me from Kim Jong Un.

Since then, meetings to prepare for the talks have resumed.

“The order was to make thorough counter-plans against the enemies’ pretentious peace strategy while people and cadres are thinking about whether the current situation has already brought peace”, he said.

Separately, preparatory meetings between the USA and North Korea were held at the North Korean side of the border village of Panmunjeom to discuss agenda items for the summit, while a separate team of United States officials met North Koreans to coordinate logistics in Singapore.