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2019.06.30 12:21 GMT+8

Handshake between Trump, Kim expected at DMZ

Updated 2019.06.30 13:08 GMT+8
CGTN

U.S. President Donald Trump will meet Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong Un on Sunday at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), Republic of Korea (ROK) President Moon Jae-in confirmed at a press conference in Seoul.

"We're going to the DMZ border and I'll be meeting with Chairman Kim. I look forward to it very much," Trump told reporters in Seoul. "We've developed a very good relationship."  

A handshake between Trump and Kim on the inter-Korean border would be a "significant milestone" in the process of denuclearizing the DPRK, Moon Jae-in said earlier.

"When a third summit between the United States and North Korea (DPRK) happens will depend what change today's meeting will make," Moon added. 

U.S. President Donald Trump and ROK President Moon Jae-in attend a news conference at the Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, June 30, 2019. /Reuters Photo

"It's going to be very short, virtually a handshake. But that's OK. A handshake means a lot," Trump said after a meeting with ROK business leaders including the heads of Samsung, Hyundai Motor, Lotte, SK and Poongsan groups. 

He said he and Kim had a "good relationship" but there was still a long way to go to reach an agreement that would end the DPRK's nuclear program in return for an end to sanctions and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula. 

Trump told Moon that he had "plenty of time" and was in "no rush" to reach a deal. 

The U.S. president arrived in Seoul late on Saturday for talks with Moon after attending the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, during which he made a surprise, spur-of-the-moment offer to meet Kim. 

It will be the third time in just over a year that Trump and Kim have met, and four months since their second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam.

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