South Korea's intelligence agency believes there is a strong possibility that North Korea and the United States will hold a summit, with the meeting potentially taking place after March, a lawmaker has said.
U.S. President Donald Trump had repeatedly called for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his recent trip to South Korea, but Kim did not respond to his proposals.
"The NIS believes there is a high likelihood of a U.S.-North Korea summit," lawmaker Park Sun-won told reporters following a parliamentary audit of South Korea's National Intelligence Service.
Park explained that North Korea was assessing the U.S. officials responsible for North Korean affairs under the Trump administration. He added that the NIS thought the North might seek a summit between Trump and Kim in March, after events such as the South Korea-U.S. joint military drills, a North Korean military parade, and the party congress early next year.
Kim Jong Un has stated that he would be willing to engage in talks with the U.S. if Washington drops its demand for denuclearisation.
Trump told reporters last week during his visit to South Korea ahead of the APEC summit, "We’ll come back, and at some point in the not-too-distant future, we’ll meet with North Korea."
A White House official clarified that "U.S. policy on North Korea has not changed. President Trump remains open to talking with Kim Jong Un without any preconditions. We have no meetings to announce at this time."
Trump and Kim held summits in 2018 and 2019, but negotiations collapsed over North Korea's nuclear weapons programme. North Korea remains under severe international sanctions due to its weapons and ballistic missile programmes.
Park also noted that Kim did not appear to have any significant health issues, despite earlier reports suggesting he might be suffering from high blood pressure.
Meanwhile, Kim Ju Ae, the North Korean leader's teenage daughter, is strengthening her position as a potential successor. However, she has remained low-profile for the past 60 days to avoid overshadowing her father, Park said. She had been in the media spotlight earlier when she accompanied Kim on a visit to China in early September.
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