DPRK calls Kim-Trump meeting 'historic,' expects to resume talk
Updated 15:00, 01-Jul-2019
CGTN
[]
00:18

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Monday described the weekend meeting between its leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) as "historic" and "amazing."

The two leaders agreed to "resume and push forward productive dialogues for making a new breakthrough in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Read more:

Trump becomes the first sitting U.S. president to visit DPRK

After a Twitter invitation by the U.S. president on Saturday, the two leaders met a day later in the DMZ. They made a historic handshake, standing on either side of the inter-Korean military demarcation line (MDL) before Trump walked a few paces into Pyongyang's territory – the first U.S. president ever to set foot on the DPRK soil. 

"The top leaders of the DPRK and the U.S. exchanging historic handshake at Panmunjom" was an "amazing event," KCNA said, describing the truce village as a "place that had been known as the symbol of division." The meeting took place "at the suggestion of Trump," it added.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters shortly before departing South Korea that a new round of talks would likely happen "sometime in July" and the DPRK negotiators would be foreign ministry diplomats.

In a photo released by KCNA on Monday, DPRK Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho and Pompeo are shown sitting next to Kim and Trump respectively in Freedom House, the building in which the two leaders had their one-on-one talks.

KCNA said that during the chat between Trump and Kim, the two leaders explained "issues of easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula," "issues of mutual concern and interest which become a stumbling block in solving those issues," and "voiced full understanding and sympathy."

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) meets with DPRK leader Kim Jong Un at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, June 30, 2019. /VCG Photo

U.S. President Donald Trump (R) meets with DPRK leader Kim Jong Un at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, June 30, 2019. /VCG Photo

Kim said it was the good personal relationship he had with Trump that made such a dramatic meeting possible at just one day's notice and that the relationship with Trump would continue to produce good results, according to KCNA.

The two leaders' "bold, brave decision" that led to the historic meeting "created unprecedented trust between the two countries" that had been tangled in deeply rooted animosity, KCNA said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the meeting between Trump and Kim and "fully supports the continued efforts of the parties to establish new relations towards sustainable peace, security and complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

(With inputs from Reuters, AFP.)

(Cover: DPRK leader Kim Jong Un (R) and U.S. President Donald Trump inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ), June 30, 2019. /VCG Photo)