North Korea says US President Donald Trump's offer to meet leader Kim Jong Un at the Korean Demilitarised Zone is a "very interesting suggestion," brightening prospects for a third face-to-face meeting between the leaders.
The North's First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said the meeting, if realised, would serve as "another meaningful occasion in further deepening the personal relations between the two leaders and advancing the bilateral relations."
Choe said North Korea hasn't received an official proposal for the DMZ meeting from the US. Her comments suggested North Korea is willing to accept Trump's idea if it gets a formal US offer, according to some observers.
Choe's statement was carried via the state-run Korean Central News Agency.
Earlier Saturday, Trump invited Kim to shake hands during his planned visit to the DMZ, which has served as a de-facto border between the Koreas since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Trump is scheduled to fly to South Korea later Saturday for a two-day trip after attending the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
Trump tweeted that "If Chairman Kim of North Korea sees this, I would meet him at the Border/DMZ just to shake his hand and say Hello(?)!"
"All I did is put out a feeler if you'd like to meet," Trump said later of the invitation, adding that he's not sure of Kim's whereabouts.
Trump is scheduled to fly to South Korea on Saturday after the Group of 20 summit in Japan. Speaking at a subsequent news conference before departing Osaka, Trump said, "I'm literally visiting the DMZ," but added he wasn't sure whether Kim would meet him.
Trump said he'd "feel very comfortable" crossing the border into North Korea if Kim shows up, saying he'd "have no problem" becoming the first US president to step over into North Korea while he is there.
It was not immediately clear what the agenda, if any, would be for the potential third Trump-Kim meeting. Trump predicted that, "If he's there, we'll see each other for two minutes."
Trump and Kim have met twice since Kim entered talks with the US early last year to deal away his advancing nuclear arsenal in return for political and economic benefits.
Their first summit in Singapore in June last year ended with Kim's promise to work toward complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, but lacked any specific timetable and road map.
They met again in Vietnam in February, but that second summit collapsed due to disputes over how much sanctions relief North Korea should win in return for dismantling its main nuclear complex - a limited denuclearisation step.
Kim has since asked Trump to work out acceptable proposals to salvage the negotiations by the end of this year. US officials said sanctions on North Korea would stay in place until North Korea takes firmer steps toward nuclear disarmament.
Talks of a revival of diplomacy have flared again since Kim and Trump recently exchanged personal letters. Kim called Trump's letter "excellent" while Trump described Kim's as "beautiful."
About 28,500 American soldiers remain deployed in South Korea as deterrence against potential aggression from North Korea.
