{"id":410211,"date":"2018-03-16T07:45:09","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T07:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=410211"},"modified":"2018-03-16T07:45:09","modified_gmt":"2018-03-16T07:45:09","slug":"north-koreas-sweden-visit-prompts-speculation-us-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2018\/03\/north-koreas-sweden-visit-prompts-speculation-us-summit\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea’s Sweden visit prompts speculation on US summit"},"content":{"rendered":"
North Korea’s foreign minister is in Sweden for a surprise visit, ahead of a possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.<\/p>\n
Pyongyang said Ri Yong-ho’s trip was for “bilateral relations and issues of mutual concern”.<\/p>\n
Sweden has a long history of mediating between Washington and Pyongyang.<\/p>\n
So the visit has prompted speculation it might be part of preparations for the US-North Korea summit.<\/p>\n
Donald Trump last week accepted an invitation for direct talks with Mr Kim, a shock announcement from the two leaders who have traded threats and insults for months.<\/p>\n
There has been no official word from North Korea since the invitation was delivered via South Korean officials in Washington.<\/p>\n
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told his country’s news agency TT that “if the main actors want Sweden to play a role then we are ready to do that”.<\/p>\n
“We are a country that is militarily non-aligned and have a longstanding presence in North Korea, and with the trust we enjoy we think we can play a role. But it has to be the main actors who decide which role Sweden will play.”<\/p>\n
The US said it was aware of the meeting in Stockholm, but did not know whether it was related to any US-North Korean talks.<\/p>\n
US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters in Washington that the US had yet to hear directly from Pyongyang on the planned summit.<\/p>\n
No sitting US president has ever met a North Korean leader.<\/p>\n
Such a summit, which Pyongyang has long wanted, has previously been seen as possible only after major concessions from the North Koreans.<\/p>\n
North Korea’s defiant nuclear and missile programme has led to severe international sanctions against Pyongyang in the hope they would force the regime to abandon its military threats.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
North Korea’s foreign minister is in Sweden for a surprise visit, ahead of a possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. Pyongyang said Ri Yong-ho’s trip was for “bilateral relations and issues of mutual concern”. Sweden has a long history of mediating between Washington and Pyongyang. So the visit has prompted speculation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":410213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[160,6026],"yoast_head":"\n