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Another Trump-Kim Meeting Before November? South Korea Hopes So

William Gallo

   SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - South Korean President Moon Jae-in says he hopes
   U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will
   hold another summit before the U.S. presidential election in November.

   A South Korean official said Wednesday Moon recently relayed the
   request to the White House. The U.S. side "understands" Moon's position
   and is "working on it, as far as I know," the South Korean official
   added.

   U.S. officials have not publicly responded to Moon's comments, which
   were initially expressed in a conversation Tuesday between the South
   Korean president and European Union officials.

   Steve Biegun, the deputy U.S. secretary of state, said earlier this
   week another Trump-Kim summit was unlikely before November, in part
   because of coronavirus concerns.

   "In the time remaining and with the wet blanket COVID-19 has put over
   the entire world, it's hard to envision circumstances where we could do
   an in-person international summit," Biegun said during an online forum
   organized by the German Marshall Fund research organization.

   But Biegun, the lead U.S. negotiator on North Korea, said Washington
   remains open to engagement with Pyongyang, adding that the U.S. goal
   continues to be the "final and complete denuclearization of the Korean
   Peninsula."

   Biegun is planning to visit South Korea sometime in July, according to
   South Korean media reports.

   Talks stalled

   It has been just over a year since Trump and Kim's last meeting-- a
   hastily organized, brief encounter at the demilitarized zone separating
   the two Koreas.

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